The Devil With The Big Tits
by Second Harrier
Summary: It's always a bad sign when the happiest member of the group stops smiling. (Now with second epilogue.)
1. Chapter 1

(Author's Note: this story draws from the manga, not the anime, for the bulk of its important details. In particular, the story begins with an alternate take on Chapter 18 of the manga. But things will start to diverge pretty quickly.)

* * *

"C'mon, just once."

The quiet of the mattress store was absolute. It was even quieter than it had ever been, now that the EMP had knocked out power for most of Japan.

"Um, wait, that's not..."

On a cold bed, in the cold store—cold, because it was still winter, after all—Marikawa Shizuka flinched backwards, crawling over the bunched blankets and sheets as the huge, muscled man clad all in black advanced upon her. Her clothes, a blue sleeveless sweater and some white pants, were askew: the sweater was pulled up, and the pants were undone at the fly, all of it done by this fellow, this… Shimada? Had he even told her his full name?

"C'mon. You're the one who said you wanted to come here, aren't you?"

Shizuka's long blond hair was a mess as she kept scooting backwards, backwards until she hit the backboard of the bed on display. Her whole big body was revealed by her undone clothes: she was a tall 27-year-old, and she had big hips and big thighs and a big bottom and very, very big breasts. _Very_ big—each one was substantially bigger than her head.

Shimada certainly appreciated them. He leered at them, and Shizuka's tiredness was gone as he advanced. She put up her hands, her bright, friendly eyes shot through with fear. "N-No, I just meant that I wanted a bed because I'm so tired."

"I don't give a shit!"

He was now upon her. Shizuka was utterly at a loss. All she'd asked him for was a place to sleep! But now he came upon her, and with a heavy hand he shoved her back against the backboard of the display bed. She banged hard against it, big breasts jostling as she did. Shimada advanced upon her again, now crawling like some terrible monster up to her.

"Just let me fuck you, okay?" he said, coming, coming towards her and she couldn't stop him. "With all the monsters roaming around now, I'm not gonna meet any more women like you with such nice bodies." She grew even more frightened than before as Shimada brandished a knife at her, a big meat cleaver from a kitchen appliance store.

"P-Please..." whispered Shizuka. "I didn't mean—_hukh!_" she gasped and gurgled all at once as Shimada reached another heavy hand out and grabbed her by the throat. His hands were so big and strong that a single one of them was enough to strangle her. Shizuka's own pale, nimble fingers clawed at his huge and heavy hand, but her efforts were useless. She was shoved down against the mattress, and Shimada dropped the knife and then used his other hand to begin digging into her pants.

"It's all over, lady, you know?" Shimada said as he tugged and ripped at her pants and her panties. "The whole world's come to an end! The old rules don't apply any more! So I figure, if there's something I want, I'll just _take _it! And right now, I want _you!_" He leered and drooled and with a huge tug he'd pulled everything off her crotch area.

Shizuka felt the bare, cold air on her vagina, on her neatly trimmed blond hair down there. Tears streamed from her eyes as she struggled, but Shimada kept squeezing her neck harder and harder, his uncut nails digging into her perfect pale skin. She could barely breathe.

"Yeah, yeah, there it is..." said Shimada, seeing her pussy. He began to fumble with his own belt and pants, that one heavy hand still squeezing Shizuka's throat. He was able to get his belt unbuckled-

And all of a sudden he, himself, gurgled and flinched, because there was sharp, cold steel pressing into his throat. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," said a voice—a woman's voice, but a firm one.

"_Gulp_," swallowed Shimada, craning his eyes to see. There was a katana, a terrible Japanese sword, pressed against his throat, right at his major artery. It was held by a lovely girl, a beautiful girl, her hair black as night and her eyes dark as the deep. She had an athlete's figure, a toned figure, but it had its charms.

Busujima Saeko curled her lip at the man, blue eyes fiery with hate. This hate did not abate when she turned her gaze to Shizuka; from would-be rapist to would-be victim, her gaze remained cruel. But at length she turned back to the burly man wearing black. "Do you want to die?" she asked him, and her blade pressed firm into his throat, on the verge of drawing blood. Shimada swallowed again, and Saeko saw the fear in his eyes and it thrilled her. "I didn't think so. So let her go."

Shimada moved in a single burly swell: he pulled away from Saeko and he released his grip on Shizuka's throat. He backed away fast, knocking his meat cleaver off the bed as he did. "_Gack!_" hacked Shizuka as she sprawled forward. Her throat ached. Her throat was in so much pain.

"Miss Shizuka!" cried a high cute voice, and a small girl came blasting past Saeko, running with all her might to Shizuka as she sprawled on the bed. A little girl with bright red hair and light brown eyes bounced onto the bed. She saw the older, bigger woman, sitting there in a heap, not blinking. "Miss Shizuka, it's Alice-chan! I'm here for you!" Maresato Alice crawled into Shizuka's lap and snuggled tenderly against her, tears springing to her small eyes.

"Hmm," hummed Saeko, and she heard footsteps. She kept her sword pointed at Shimada as she was joined by her companions, the other members who made up their traveling party, roaming the world of the dead.

"What is it?" Hirano Kohta asked, husky frame and long black hair coming up alongside Saeko.

"Get back, get back!" said Takagi Saya, shoving Kohta aside as she asserted herself, curvy body bouncing a bit as her long pink hair, done up in pigtails, levitated behind her in the breeze of the shopping mall. She gazed as Shizuka, looking miserable as Alice cuddled against her, and she immediately realized what had happened. She pulled her glasses up on her face and her hazel eyes went soft, then hard, then soft again. "Oh, Marikawa-sensei. Oh, oh no."

"What?" came a sharp voice. "What, what is it?" A sturdy looking teenage boy with black hair and brown eyes shouldered through the growing group. "What is it? Saya-chan, what is it? What happened?" But when Komuro Takashi saw the scene with his own eyes, saw Shimada flinching from Saeko's sword and saw Shizuka shocked and bent on the bed, with its sheets and comforter in disarray, he knew enough to draw conclusions. Wrath blazed in his eyes as he rounded on Shimada, who suddenly feared the teenage boy as much as he feared the sword at his neck. "What did you do?" he growled. "What did you do?!" Why was he asking? He knew what had happened.

"Marikawa-sensei!" came a high, lovely voice. A fit, pretty girl with red hair and brown eyes, wearing a schoolgirl's uniform, came through the rest of her companions like a shot and bounced onto the bed. "Marikawa-sensei, it's me, Miyamoto-chan! I'm here, don't worry!" Miyamoto Rei wrapped tight and tender arms around Shizuka, who was still staring with empty eyes at nothing in particular. Rei, also, instantly knew what had happened. Or maybe what had almost happened? "Marikawa-sensei, did he… do it?" Rei swung around on the bed and forced Shizuka to look her on the eyes. "Did he do it all? Did he… penetrate?"

"N-No..." mumbled Shizuka. Her hand came softly up and felt her throat, which was already starting to bruise. "B-But… he _tried_..." and she broke into sobs, tears streaming from her eyes as she wracked with crying. Rei tried to wrap her arms around her. "N-No! No, no, no!" shrieked Shizuka, startling both Rei and Alice by ripping herself from their grasps. Not held by anyone, she bent double on the bed and cried, bawled, wailed.

Kohta, Saya, and Takashi felt their hearts break at the pitiful sight. Takashi recovered first, and with wrath in his heart he turned to the burly man in black. "_You_..." he growled, stepping forward, frightening Shimada all over again. "You!" he roared.

"Let me kill him, Komuro-kun," said Saeko, pressing her sword's blade even deeper into Shimada's throat. "He has attacked one of our own. The penalty for that should be death."

"I..." said Takashi, voice dying in his throat. There was a cruel and awful part of him that wanted to tell Saeko to do it. But it warred with something in him, something that was still civilized. They couldn't just execute people, could they? Even if they'd clearly done harm to a member of their companions? Had the world changed that much?

"What seems to be the trouble?"

They all, even Shimada, turned to see a pretty woman in a police uniform come walking up to them. Her mid-cut brown hair and brown eyes were worried and tight as she surveyed the scene.

"Nakaoka-san!" cried Kohta, coming forward as she approached. "One of our companions has been assaulted!"

Nakaoka Asami, pert and petite in her police uniform, surveyed the scene. It wasn't hard to discern what had taken place. She saw Shimada, at the mercy of the terrifying black-haired girl with the sword. She saw the blond woman with the incredible figure, her clothes and hair a mess and bawling her eyes out on the bed. She saw Kohta-san and his friends looking like they were ready to commit a murder. She nodded. "Right. This officer understands." She pulled out the gun that Kohta had given her, the Smith and Wesson M.37 Airweight he'd given her to quell the trouble in the group she administered at the shopping mall. "All right. This officer will take care of things from here. Shimada-san, come with me."

"I..." Shimada gulped. "I got a sword at my throat."

Asami tilted her head. "Busujima-san, I'm going to need you to let him go."

Saeko curled her lip and bared her incisor as she glared at Shimada. "He does deserve to die..." she said softly. Her sword moved. "But I'll do as you wish." She sheathed the beautiful blade in a single fluid motion.

Asami brandished her gun at Shimada. "Come with me, Shimada-san." The big man got up, and began to walk out of the mattress store, Asami right behind him. She glanced over her shoulder at that group, that group that had stuck together through so much, but which now seemed so miserable. She sighed. "I'll give you all some time." And with that, she led Shimada out through the wide doors of the store.

No one spoke, so the only noise was Shizuka's continued weeping, as she clutched at her abused throat and bawled on and on. Rei, finally, leaned forward. "Marikawa-sensei, it's… it's okay. You're safe now."

"I..." she gulped, sputtering tears and sobs, "I..."

"Hmph."

Shizuka's weeping stopped at the huff, and she glanced with teary eyes up at Saeko. "W-What?"

"You weren't even going to fight back, were you?" Saeko asked. Shizuka's wet eyes bulged. "You weren't. I could tell you weren't. You were just going to let it happen." She curled her lip in disgust. "Pathetic."

Shizuka's eyes leaked tears again, and she doubled over to sob once more.

"_Busujima-senpai_!" roared Rei, eyes ablaze in anger at Saeko. "Now is _not_ the time for that!" She reached in tenderly and wrapped Shizuka in her arms. "It's fine, sensei. It's all right. You're safe. You're safe, and nothing really happened."

"Hmph," huffed Saeko again.

Takashi sighed, sounding exhausted, and glanced at Saeko. "Really, Saeko-chan, this isn't the time or the place to talk like that. You know better."

Saeko's lovely thin eyebrows rose. "I suppose..." she glanced at the still-weeping Shizuka, whose teary hazel eyes then swiveled up to meet Saeko's blue gaze. "But if not at a time like this, then when? It's a lesson learned." Her blue eyes narrowed. "Behavior like that… won't get you very far in this new world."

"Don't listen to her, sensei," said Rei, clutching Shizuka close. "Just relax. Just close your eyes." But Shizuka's eyes remained open.


	2. Chapter 2

Days passed. They remained in the shopping mall, despite what had taken place between Shimada and Shizuka. Indeed, Shimada had ultimately been executed for his crime, a decision that had been difficult for Takashi, but one Saya and Kohta had convinced him was necessary. Some of the other members of the group that had originally inhabited the mall had objected, but Asami telling them what had transpired had swayed the vast majority of their hearts. Asami had originally proposed to do the deed herself, but her fear and her cowardice had stopped her. Ultimately Kohta and Saeko had flipped a coin over who would do it. Kohta had called heads and won, so Shimada's head had been blown off by a rifle bullet. Kohta had had no qualms.

That should have been the end of it. And yet…

"Drinks are ready!" said Rei, as the eight of them (seven humans plus their dog Zeke) lounged around one of the coffee shops on the upper levels of the mall. Most of the other group, the one Asami controlled, had not ventured this high yet; they had fears of "them" on the higher floors. But Takashi and the rest of them had long since banished fears of the dead, so they ventured into far-flung corners of the mall, and so had found this commercial coffee spot, almost totally intact.

Rei had informed the group that she had once worked at a maid cafe one summer, so mixing coffee drinks was a skill she possessed. There was even still some cold in the refrigerators and the pipes, despite the EMP that had knocked out Japan's power, so Rei had been able to put her full talents to use.

"Oh, yummy!" said Saya, baring her cute fang in delight as Rei approached the table. "I have not had a good latte in ages!"

"Here's your double espresso, Takashi," said Rei. She giggled. "It's such a _you_ thing to order, it's almost a cliché."

"I-Is my drink a cliché, too?" asked Kohta, suddenly excited, pushing up his glasses.

"Well, Hirano-san, I must say it is very appropriate for you to order a caramel latte," said Rei with a chuckle, setting his drink down. "And even Takagi-san, you wanted a vanilla latte, right? Sweet, but with a hint of bitterness." Rei laughed, and Saya laughed, too. Rei set the drink down. "And for Busujima-senpai..." Rei curled her lip as she turned to Saeko. "Black coffee. I guess _that_'s appropriate, too." She set the drink down in front of of Saeko, just a little too hard. Saeko eyed her with a neutral expression, but she pursed her lips.

"Do you have my pink drink, Miss Rei?" asked Alice.

"Yep! Here you go, sweetie!" said Rei, setting the big clear cup of pink liquid down in front of Alice. "And now for you, sensei! Here, I whipped you up something special. It's got lots of caramel and lots of chocolate and lots and lots of whipped cream!" She set the drink down in front of Shizuka, who was sitting at another table apart from everyone else.

Shizuka did not thank Rei. She didn't even react to the drink being set in front of her. She stared blankly ahead, not looking at anything in particular. Her gigantic breasts pooled onto the table as she rested her chin on them. She sat there, not looking, not talking, blinking occasionally. She idly reached a hand up and felt her throat tenderly.

Rei felt discomfort creep up her spine. "C-C'mon, sensei, I went to all this trouble." She hitched a breath as she saw Shizuka blink, and saw tears begin to leak from the corners of her eyes. "Please, sensei, I'm begging you. If you're still bothered, you can trust us. I know how that must have been. But let us help you." She bent downwards. She smiled playfully. "Let's have some fun times, like we've done before," and she gleefully squeezed Shizuka around the shoulders.

"_No!_" the entire group whirled at the shout. Shizuka violently shoved Rei away, spilling the special drink all over the floor as she did. The big-figured woman was on her feet and gazed at them with wild, awful eyes. "No! No! Don't touch me! Don't touch me, you hear! Don't touch me!"

"M-Marikawa-sensei!" cried Rei. "I didn't mean… I don't want..." she reached forward towards Shizuka.

"No!" Shizuka recoiled like she'd been struck. "No! No! Stay away! Stay away from me!" She shrieked, an awful sound. And she turned and ran, flat shoes carrying her quickly away from the coffee shop, out into the mall to the left.

Rei trembled. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. She turned back to the rest of them. "I… I didn't mean to," she said. "I didn't want to hurt her. I swear. She just..."

"It's likely nothing you did," said Saeko. "You were gentle to her, in my eyes. She's just still out of sorts… because of what happened."

"Is her throat really still bothering her?" asked Kohta.

This caused Saya to sharply slap him across the shoulder. "Of course it is, fatty! Have _you_ ever been strangled? It's not pleasant, I can assure you. Not during, and not after."

"W-Whoa, since when were you strangled?" Kohta asked.

"Long story! That's not important right now!" barked Saya. "What _is_ important is that her sore throat's the least of her worries. Shizuka-sensei is seriously traumatized." Saya sighed, and pushed up her glasses. "I should have anticipated this. Nothing like this has probably ever happened to her before."

"Where did she go?" asked Takashi.

"Oh, she probably went to the restroom!" said Alice. "Miss Shizuka and I found a men's and a women's room off in the direction she ran!" The group turned to her, and Alice briefly flinched at their focus. But she huffed a breath and nodded. "If she didn't just run off in a panic… if she's actually headed somewhere… she'll probably go there. Just to dry her tears, at least."

Saya smiled warmly and ruffled Alice's hair. "Nice thinking, Munchkin."

"I should go after her," said Rei. "Go and apologize."

"No," said Saya. "Counting when you tried to comfort her immediately _after_ things happened, this is twice now you've tried to make her feel better and she's wanted nothing to do with you. Going after her a third time isn't what she needs right now. It needs to be someone else." Saya sighed and rose from her seat. "I guess-"

"I'll go."

The group turned. Takashi was on his feet. "Takashi..." whispered Rei.

"Marikawa-sensei has been comfortable with me around before. She doesn't object to me. I think I can talk to her." He smiled roughly and shook his head. "Besides, I'm the leader, right? She's my responsibility. I have to tend to her."

"Hmm," hummed Rei, and frowned.

"Hmm," hummed Saeko, and smiled.

"That way, right, Alice-chan?" said Takashi, and pointed off to the left.

"Yep!"

So Takashi walked off to the left, down the empty, silent avenues of the abandoned shopping mall, already beginning to fall apart. Banners and panels had already fallen down and collapsed from the walls, the storefronts, and the ceilings. A layer of dust, fine but noticeable, had settled onto the vast and airy space. As mentioned, the other group, the one led by Asami, had not ventured to this extent of the mall, so it was even more abandoned than the rest of the place.

But he found the women's restroom soon enough. He poked his head in. Instincts from _before_, from the before the world had ended, reared their head, and made him leery of walking into the women's room. But he told himself it didn't matter any more, and stepped inside. "Marikawa-sensei?" he called. "Shizuka-sensei, I'm here!"

No response.

"Marikawa-sensei, I'd like to talk to you. It's Takashi-san."

There was no response, and he was about to conclude she wasn't here after all, when from the darkness there came the soft call: "Come in."

Takashi entered, walking around a bend and coming into the main restroom area. Shizuka stood there, bent against a sink, looking into the mirror. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness. Soon enough, Takashi's did as well, and he could see her, and he could see her reflection, which she gazed at now. She did not turn to look at him; instead, she looked at the mirror, looked at his reflection in it as it appeared over her shoulder.

"M-Marikawa-sensei," said Takashi. "How are you feeling?"

Shizuka bowed her head. "Awful."

Takashi drew in a breath in the darkness. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? Except… he sighed. "I'm so sorry. I wish I could make you feel better."

"You do, don't you?" Now Shizuka at last turned to face him. "You mean it, don't you? You've always said what you mean. You never try to hide your feelings." He could tell she had been crying again. But she smiled. "It's nice."

"Th-Thanks," said Takashi. He pressed forward, telling himself to be brave. "I mean it, by the way! I wish I could take away your pain. But… I just don't know how. That's some honesty for you. I have no idea what you're feeling, so I don't know how to help."

"Komuro-kun..." she said softly. "That's nice. That's kind. To hear a man be honest like that… it's nice." She turned back to the mirror. Takashi saw that she was tenderly touching her throat. For days now her neck had been covered in bruises from where Shimada had strangled her. "Do you know what the worst thing is?"

Takashi didn't expect her to keep talking. He forced himself not to react, and then he said, "No. What's the worst thing?"

"The worst thing… well, I guess it's the thing itself. But I've thought, and I realized that what he did… what he almost did… if he'd done it… or even if he almost did it… whatever happened, nothing would have happened after."

"He was declared guilty and Hirano shot him in the head."

"I mean officially!" snapped Shizuka, voice rising in intensity as she turned around. Her big breasts swung back and forth as she turned sharply to Takashi. "We had to do it ourselves, because if not for us what would have happened to him? Nothing." She sniffed loudly. "He wouldn't have been arrested. There are no police any more. He wouldn't have been to trial. There are no judges any more! He wouldn't have gone to prison. There are no prisons any more, none that are working." Now her sadness changed, and her face twisted, and Takashi saw anger in her hazel eyes. "If it hadn't been for _you_, if you all hadn't taken matters into your own hands, then he could have _raped_ me and _killed_ me and _nothing_ would have happened! I wouldn't have gotten justice, even in death!"

"S-Sensei," said Takasi, suddenly uneasy. "That's not true. We would have-"

"Us! We! Not the world! Not the way things _ought_ to be! Not the way the world is _supposed_ to work! It wouldn't have happened, because the world is _dead_!" Tears streamed down her face, but Shizuka still looked more angry than sad. "You wanna know why I'm crying, Komuro-kun? That's why. Because I realize that it's all over!" She fought back a sob, but she seemed to get even angrier. "All I ever did was fool myself. I've been fooling myself all this time! I kept thinking one day I'll wake up and the SDF will have killed all of "them" and the roads will be open and the power will be on and everyone will go back to work, including me." Something about her hazel eyes changed then, something he saw but couldn't quite understand. "But it won't happen. It's never happening."

Takashi met her gaze. He could have said something comforting. He could have said something sweet. He could have told her her fears weren't a big deal.

But he didn't. Instead, his own eyes grew hard, and he nodded. "You're right, Marikawa-sensei. The world's changed and it's never changing back."

"And that's why… that's why." Shizuka's voice echoed hauntingly in the restroom. "More than the rape… more than my bruises… that's what's scared the shit out of me, Komuro-kun. That's what I can't stop thinking about. Because the world's over, and I need to do… something." She looked down.

"Sensei."

It was a soft word, but a firm one. It made Shizuka turn her tear-stained eyes up from the ground, turn them to Takashi to meet his gaze.

"Sensei. You've made it this far. You can make it farther. I have faith in you." Takashi stepped forward, then stepped forward again, until he was right in front of her. She was still a hair taller than him, but he'd grown in height a little in the time since the world had ended. "You're a survivor. You survived that horrible thing that happened. You're a survivor… just like the rest of us." He smiled fiercely. "You'll be there at the end of things. I know you will."

Shizuka drew in a breath. For the first time in days, a smile broke out on her face. "Komuro-kun," she said softly, and she drew him into an embrace.

"G-Guh," said Takashi as Shizuka hugged him tightly. It was intoxicating. How could it not be? Right now, she was radiating love and affection, and more than that, she was quite possibly the most beautiful woman he'd ever been in close quarters with. It was a heady combination.

Shizuka noticed his reaction. She chuckled softly. "Someone's enjoying this."

"S-Sorry, sensei," said Takashi. He wrapped his arms around her, and they held each other tenderly for a moment. Then, at last, Shizuka released him, and they slowly pulled apart. "We should get back to the others, Marikawa-sensei."

"No."

"What?"

"No more 'sensei.' It's useless now." Shizuka threw up her eyes and waved an arm around. "All these honorifics, all these titles and suffixes… it's all pretty bullshit now, isn't it? Just like the law and the government. It's all a waste. It's a relic of the old world." Her hazel eyes, now dry of tears, fixed Takashi with a firm look. "I'm tired of being 'sensei' and 'senpai.' They're not of use to me any more. From now on, just call me 'Shizuka.'"

"Oh..."

"Marikawa Shizuka. That's my name. That's the only name I have. It's all I want you to call me." She smiled at him. "Will you do that for me, Komuro-kun?"

"I… I will." Takashi grinned at her. "Is 'chan' still fine? Can I call you Shizuka-chan?"

"Yes, 'chan' is fine." She smiled. She giggled. "I really like it, actually."

"Then let's go, Shizuka-chan. I bet Rei will whip you up another drink."

"I should apologize to Miyamoto-kun for being so rude," said Shizuka.

"Come on, let's go," said Takashi. He began to walk out, but he stopped. He glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her. "I'll try and always be honest with you, Shizuka-chan, no matter what."

At that, Takashi walked the rest of the way out of the bathroom. Shizuka stood there for a moment longer. "Komuro-kun..." she said quietly. She drew in a soft, hot breath, and a warmth spread up her cheeks and in her chest.


	3. Chapter 3

Things returned to a semblance of normalcy in the aftermath of this. Or, as close to 'normal' as things got, now that the world was over. Shizuka smiled again, and was ditzy, and tried her best to be as happy as she used to be. Something about it was different, though. A part of her just wasn't in it any more. Some of the group noticed this, but not all.

And one night she lay awake. There was another home furnishings store on the third floor of the mall, away from the group led by Asami. This is what Takashi and his companions had commandeered for their sleeping chamber. They all sprawled on the various beds and couches, curled up and sleeping soundly. Even Zeke was fast asleep, curled up close to Alice and Saya as they nestled together.

But Shizuka could not sleep. There were numerous nights a week now where she could not sleep. She would lay awake, thinking about that terrible, awful day, that day everything she'd ever known had been destroyed. Huffing, she sat up in her bed. Clad in a bra, panties, and some slippers, she padded away from the bedroom furnishings area towards the sample bathroom area. A flashlight was in her hand, one that she could charge just by turning a crank. She cranked it now; Kohta had found it in an electronics store. She cranked it until she reached the bathroom display area, dimly lit in the distant haze of moon and stars. She cranked until she saw the hazy outline of her own reflection, meaning she was in front of a mirror. Then she clicked the flashlight on.

And she did what she'd been doing night after night: she leaned in close, and she looked at her neck. She shuddered, and her eyes pricked with tears. Even now, even after almost a month, even after he was _dead_, she could still feel his iron fingers on her throat. In the pale, ghostly light of the flashlight she bent into the mirror and looked more closely. The bruises were almost gone; only bare hints of them remained on her perfect porcelain skin. She sighed, a little comfort returning. Maybe-

She stopped. Her delicate fingers tapped up the left side of her neck, and she searched for a thing she'd more felt than seen. She felt it again, and she leaned that direction in the mirror—and her eyes widened. There was a curved line on her neck. It was small, and it was a semi-circle, and it was faintly, dully red. But it was there. She drew in a sharp breath. It was a scar. It was a scar from _him_. She'd felt his nails digging into her throat as he'd strangled her. One of them must have dug so deeply that it had permanently marred the skin, a blemish on her formerly-perfect neck that would be with her forever.

A sob bubbled up in her throat. All over again the memories of that horrible day washed over her. Tears pricked and sprang at the corners of her eyes. She clicked off the flashlight and wandered back to her bed, big breasts quivering as soft sobs wracked her shoulders. She was leaking tears as she crawled back under her covers, staring up into the endless darkness of the store ceiling as the memories she couldn't banish welled back up all over again.

But then a new memory surfaced. It was Takashi. _You're a survivor… just like the rest of us._

"Komuro-kun..." she said, softly and tenderly. It destroyed her sadness. And for the very first time, she looked back on that terrible day without breaking down in agony. For the very first time, she regarded the attempted rape she'd suffered. She remembered the ordeal clearly. She remembered her would-be rapist. She remembered what he had done and what he had said.

And she thought about those things, as the hours of the night wore on. And as she did, that change again came over her eyes: the coldness and the hardness crept into them, and this time they did not leave. Finally, she yawned. It was time to sleep. But she gazed up into the darkness one last time.

"Komuro-kun," she said firmly, and this time she said it, not with tenderness, but with determination.


	4. Chapter 4

Eventually the mall had failed, and they had all had to escape. Asami had decided to come with them. Tragedy had struck almost immediately, though: a young man had been stranded in the parking lot, surrounded by "them," and Asami, brave or foolish, had decided to try and save him. But the young man had been eaten, and Asami had been surrounded.

Kohta had had to shoot her in the head, killing her rather than letting her become one of the waking dead. It had bothered him for days afterwards. Fortunately, the group had been able to bring him back to his senses.

Asami's death ate at Takashi. If he was supposed to be the leader, why couldn't he keep everyone safe? Maybe if they'd had more backup—if more of the group from the mall had decided to come with them—Asami would not have met her fate. _Maybe if that big guy who tried to rape Shizuka-chan hadn't been killed, he would have been helpful_. But he immediately dismissed the thought, and gritted his teeth. _Maybe if he wanted to live he shouldn't have tried to be a rapist._ He glanced over his shoulder. Shizuka was walking in the center of them all, close to Alice and Zeke but not too close. She saw him look at her, and she smiled at him in a kind and gentle way. He smiled back, happy to see her in a good mood.

"Huff," puffed Saya.

"Tired?" asked Kohta. They were walking through a quiet neighborhood not far from the highway. They were still moving towards the elementary school. Their plan was still, ultimately, to try and find both Rei and Takashi's parents. But the immense amounts of "them" had forced them to take several detours already, and now they had moved at least a few miles off course. Even now, they were traveling through the first clear neighborhood they'd encountered in hours.

"I'm not _tired_, fatty," snarled Saya. "Some of us keep in good shape, you know."

"Is that so?" said Saeko. She reached-

"Eep!" chirped Saya as Saeko grabbed the thin but noticeable layer of pudge around her waist.

"I suppose some of us could stand to be in _better_ shape," said Saeko, earning her a glare and a scowl from Saya.

"I'm fine, Busujima-senpai," said Saya. "But what I am getting is..." she stopped. This caused the rest of the group to stop. Saya quirked an eyebrow behind her glasses. "Hot." Now both brows rose. "I'm getting hot."

"Come to think of it, so am I," said Shizuka. Takashi turned to her, and she smiled knowingly. "I think I'll take this off." She shrugged off the green military shirt she'd been wearing, tying it in a loose knot around her waist. This left her wearing nothing on her torso but her black tank top, affording everyone clear view of her bare shoulders and her acres of cleavage. Kohta and Takashi could not help but leer at her, earning them glares from the girls.

"The nuclear winter," said Kohta. "The effects of those bombs… they must be dissipating in the atmosphere, at last."

"And what about the regular winter?" said Rei. "It was Winter when all this started. I remember. We'd just gotten back from winter break… school had just started." She thought of Hisashi, and blinked her eyes harshly.

"Has anyone actually been keeping track of the time?" asked Takashi. "God knows I haven't."

"It's been almost two months," said Saeko. "Two months since the world's ended."

"It's been more!" said Alice. "I've definitely been keeping track of the time. I've been counting every day since you guys found me." She beamed. "It's been two months and two days!"

"So… Spring is coming," said Rei. A massive smile broke out on her face. "Marikawa-sensei, didn't you say that in warm weather all of "them" would rot away to nothing?"

"Hmm?" said Shizuka, glancing idly in another direction. Her eyes swung towards Rei; there was something different about them now, but Rei couldn't discern what. "Hmm, what?"

"You said so, right when all this started! You said in warm weather their muscle and tissue would rot and they'd be done for!"

"I… guess I did, didn't I?" said Shizuka. It felt like more than one lifetime ago, as her memory was jogged. "But yes, that's right. In warm weather, it should take about three weeks for them to decompose."

"And… and the Spring is coming!" cried Rei, sounding almost giddy. "And then the Summer comes and it will get even hotter! "They'll" all rot!" She laughed out loud, a pretty, lovely sound. ""They'll" all rot, and then "they" will all be _gone!"_

Saeko and Saya exchanged glances. "Do we dare hope?" asked Saeko.

"It seems… logical," said Saya. "I mean, there's nothing logical about "them" to begin with, but whatever else there is about them, their meat and their organs do seem to be normal stuff." She pushed up her glasses and crossed her arms over her breasts. "I haven't seen anything so far to think they'd be immune to decomposing in the heat."

Rei was bouncing in place, her own plump breasts wiggling as she practically jumped up and down. A look of pure joy was on her face. "And then "they'll" be _gone_! They'll be gone! It will all be over! And everything will go back to normal!"

And then there was laughter. _Laughter_. It startled them all, shook them all. It raced up their spines. It started low, but quickly rose in pitch and volume, a shrieking, clapping, barking laughter that bounced off the walls of the abandoned buildings of the neighborhood. It sounded for all the world like the laughing of a hyena.

Takashi, Rei, Kohta, Saya, Shizuka, and Alice all quickly realized it wasn't them, so they all turned. It was Saeko. She was laughing, laughing hard, doubled over as she laughed so hard she cried. It was not a pleasant sound. In fact, it was frightening, and Alice drew close to Saya, who in turn clutched her tightly. As it finally died down, and as Saeko straightened up, Saya eyed her with unease. "I-I've never heard you laugh before, Busujima-senpai."

"Heh heh, hee hee..." came the stray giggles from Saeko. She put a dainty knuckle to her mouth. "Oh, please excuse me. That was uncouth."

"What's so funny, senpai?" asked Rei.

"Why, _you_ are, Miyamoto-kun," said Saeko. Another little giggle escaped her lips. "That thing you said. It's so funny. So stupid. So funny."

"Wh-What?" stammered Rei, a shiver running up her spine. "What thing?"

"That thing you said about everything going back to normal," said Saeko. "I know that's what you want, Miyamoto… I know that's what you hope… but it will not be so." Her blue eyes grew narrow and hard. "Even if all of "them" rot away to nothing… even if there's not a single one of "them" left in the world… things will _never_ go back to normal." She idly fingered the hilt of her katana. "The old world is dead, and it is never coming back, even if "they" go away."

"I..." breathed Rei.

"Never," said Saeko with a note of finality. "Isn't that right, Takashi?"

"Takashi," hissed Rei, turning to him with an expression that mingled anger and fear.

"I..." said Takashi, caught off guard to see the two of them fixed on him like this.

"She _is_ right," said Shizuka, entering the conversation to the surprise of them all. "The old world is gone. We're in the new world now, and we're never leaving it. There's no use pining over what was." Her hazel eyes narrowed as she curled her lip. "Nostalgia is for the weak."

"B-But sensei," said Rei, "didn't you say..."

"Say what?"

"Well… another thing from back at the start. I remember. When we were first escaping the school." Rei fixed her brown eyes on Shizuka. It wasn't just Shizuka's eyes; she could tell that there was something different all over about the big-bodied nurse, though she couldn't quite say exactly what. "You said… you said that if the world was going to be like _this_ from now on, th-that it might be better to die."

"Oh, did I say that?" Shizuka arched an eyebrow. "I guess I did. It's been so long." She smiled. "But I've changed my mind. I'd rather live, no matter what. I'd rather live and I'd rather go forward." As if to emphasize the point, she began to walk forward, passing through the midst of them and out into the road alone. She glanced over her shoulder, and now her smile grew very wide indeed. "Besides, this world's not so bad once you get used to it." And then she put her arms behind her head, thrusting her mammoth breasts out and humming a soft tune to herself as she walked away from them.

The six of them and Zeke just watched her go for a moment, all a little stunned. Alice spoke first: "I-Is Miss Shizuka going to be all right?"

"Ah..." said Saya, "Ah… yes, yes she is, Munchkin. Tell you what, why don't you go keep her company, and make sure she doesn't get too far ahead of us."

"Okay!" said Alice, teeth sparkling as she smiled. With her flannel shirt flying behind her, the girl went running off after Shizuka.

When Alice was out of earshot Saya groaned. "Sensei's brain is fried," she said.

"It _is_ an interesting change," said Saeko. "I've not seen her like this before."

"That attempted rape really did mess her up, didn't it?" said Saya. "I knew it would, but I guess I underestimated the effects."

"Do you really think that's the cause?" asked Rei.

"What else could it be?" said Saya. "All these changes in Shizuka-sensei's behavior can be traced to that moment in time. And it's not surprising at all. My Ma-" Saya choked on the word, a lump in her throat. But she hardened her gaze and swallowed it down. "My Mama once had someone try to rape her. She said it was the worst thing that ever happened to her—and in my family, that's saying something."

"Rei, remember that guy?" said Takashi. "That guy that held you at knifepoint? At the gas station."

"Oh, another thing from the beginning!" said Rei. "Yes, I remember. Fucker," she scowled at the thought.

"Was it… traumatizing?" asked Takashi. He looked at her. And Rei blossomed with joy to see him express concern.

"Well, actually, not really. I mean, it was scary, but…" Rei smiled again. "But _you_ were there, Takashi. You were with me the whole time." She blushed. "So I knew I'd be fine, deep down."

"Takashi is quite the dashing knight," said Saeko with a smile and a glance his way. This earned her a scowl from Rei.

Then Rei just blinked and sighed. She said, "But really, Marikawa-sensei's got to pull herself together! Hirano-san did!"

"Thanks!" said Kohta, flashing her a salute.

"I agree," said Saeko. "Sensei may be traumatized, but none of us can afford to wallow in misery. I would think she'd know that, given her apparent change in attitude."

"Hey, listen, let her be," said Takashi, putting his hands out in pleading. "Shizuka-chan is just… coping. She's coming to terms with a lot. Give her more time."

Takashi had hoped that saying this would calm them down. But instead, both Rei and Saeko's faces twisted in anger. "Since when do _you_ call her 'Shizuka-chan'?" snarled Rei.

"Yes, since when?" asked Saeko.

"W-Well, she asked me to do it," said Takashi.

"_Did_ she, now," said Saeko, her already-deep voice dropping an octave.

"I-It's a long story," said Takashi.

"I bet it is," said Rei, gritting her teeth as she did. "I bet it's such a long, _sweet_ story."

Before Takashi could say any more—do any more damage—both Rei and Saeko started forward. They passed him. Rei shot him a nasty glare as she did. Saeko's anger had, on the surface, dissipated, but Takashi knew full well by now what that glimmer in her eyes meant. Then they continued on. He turned to watch them go. Shizuka had actually not gotten far, and had stopped about twenty meters away from the rest of the party. She was watching them all, Alice clinging eagerly to her waist as Zeke sniffed around her feet. Shizuka's expression was careful, studied, betraying nothing. Her eyes were narrow, though.

"Miss Shizuka, give me a hug!" said Alice, tugging on her skirt.

"Oh, hmm? Oh, sure," said Shizuka, absent-mindedly wrapping Alice in an embrace.

Alice frowned. "You don't give good hugs any more! Not like you used to."

"Sorry, sweetie. I'll try harder in the future."

"You never _had_ to try before."

"Things have changed." Shizuka watched Rei and Saeko come in her direction. She looked past them, and saw Takashi looking out at her. She gave a dainty smile and waved at him. He waved back, and started heading her way, in the wake of Saeko and Rei.

Saya had watched all of this, and her eyes were bulging. "Oh, no," she said. "Oh, _no_."

"What?" asked Kohta, standing with her now that they were by themselves. "What is it?"

"Another thing I should have seen coming," said Saya. "But maybe..."

"What? What is it?" Kohta asked. "What's happening?"

"Don't ask dumb questions, fatty!" she snapped at him. She sighed very deeply, and pushed up her glasses again. "Just pray to whatever god you worship that, for _once_ in my life, I'm wrong."


	5. Chapter 5

They had made their way on their detour. It had been a longer detour than any of them had anticipated; the huge amounts of "them" in the neighborhoods had largely confined them to the main highway, and it had been long, slow going. Kohta had begun to grow worried about their lack of ammunition.

Fate smiled on them, though: they were able to make their way to the precinct house for the East Prefecture Police. It had been occupied by "them," but not a huge number, and a mere hour's work had been sufficient to completely clear it. What was more, they had been able to enhance and upgrade their arsenal. They had stumbled upon an MP5SFK with a suppressor and plenty of ammunition for it, as well as an M92 Vertec handgun; both of these had been dangling from former police officers turned into "them." Meanwhile, in the evidence room, they had discovered huge amounts of ammo for their current arsenal, and the greatest prize of them all: a Benelli M4 Super 90, the apogee of combat shotguns. Kohta had given this to Takashi, and given the handgun to Saeko; meanwhile, he'd surprised Saya by gifting her the MP5. The rest of the above-average guns, and all of the ammo, he'd stuffed into his backpack, declaring that he would take them all.

That had been the extent of their excitement. Rei had found no signs of her father, which increased her hope that he had successfully escaped. They'd found a J-Alert terminal on the third floor, but it had had no pressing news, just intimations of an eventual evacuation. This allowed them, at last, to breathe.

"I say we bar the doors and stay here tonight," said Kohta.

"Not a bad idea," said Takashi, and working together they had done exactly that. The water was somehow still running, so at least the women were able to freshen up a little.

Takashi sighed tiredly as he trundled up the stairs. There were bunks and showers here, courtesies for the SWAT team and special response units stuck on overnight shifts. After two nights sleeping in the streets and the trees, a bed, even a meager one, sounded like heaven. He drifted into the public safety division's room, the warm gold light of the late afternoon falling through the windows onto the desks, the computers, and the filing cabinets. It was almost peaceful. There was blood on his shoes, and every floor was littered with guts and entrails and ruined bodies. But it was almost… peaceful.

"Ah, Komuro-kun."

He smiled, and turned to the door. "Oh, hey there, Shizuka-chan."

She drifted gently into the room, bathed in the golden light from the windows. Her long blond hair was tied up in a ponytail that fell oh-so-perfectly about her shoulders and down her back. Takashi felt his hair stand up. _Was it really so effortless for her to look so beautiful?_ The thought flickered across his mind, but a pang of guilt followed. _Rei_, he thought. _Saeko_.

"I put Alice-chan down for a nap," she said. "She's sound asleep."

"Is she really that much of a napper?" asked Takashi.

"Not really, as you've noticed," said Shizuka. "But she said she was tired." She sighed. "I'm tired too. It's been a rough couple of days." She crossed her arms beneath her enormous breasts. She leaned against the doorframe, and breathed, and sighed. Takashi tried not to stare. But he couldn't help it—and then her eyes came open and she saw him looking. She smiled again.

"S-Sorry," he said, turning away.

"I don't mind."

"You don't?" he asked, surprised.

Shizuka smiled smugly. "It's a real treat to catch your attention, Komuro-kun."

Takashi's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "I… I don't mean..."

"It's okay. Really, it's very okay." Shizuka slowly advanced on him. There was a part of Takashi's mind telling him to back away from her. But it was a quiet part. Very soon, she was inches from him. "I can't thank you enough, Komuro-kun. For what you said, back at the mall. For _everything_. I'd be dead ten times over, if it weren't for you."

"I… you're a comrade, Shizuka. I'd look after you like I'd look after my own family."

"Hmm," hummed Shizuka. She made a pout with her lips, and gave him a _look_ that made his spine tingle and his pants tighten. The part telling him to back away was louder now. But not loud enough.

"Shizuka..." he murmured, as she drifted just ever so closer, until the tiny gap remaining between them was gone. "Shizuka-chan, I..." Suddenly, soft, warm, right against his chest. Oozing, pooling around his chest. He looked straight down. Oh. _Those_.

Shizuka smiled in pleasure, knowing that her trusty weapons had once again hit their mark. "You like them, don't you? Most men do."

"I..."

"Come on, Komuro-kun… Takashi," said Shizuka, her voice low and husky. "You know I like it when you're honest."

"I..." oh, God, it was becoming hard to think straight. _Honest. Okay._ "Yes. I do like them."

"There we go," said Shizuka. "You can touch them, if you want."

"I-I… can?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded. "I don't let most men touch them. But you're not most men, Komuro-kun."

The part telling him to push her away, to back away, to run away, was now quite loud indeed. But… it was too late. It had been too late for ten minutes. Carefully, gently, in the dead silence of the public safety division room, Takashi put his fingers around her breasts. They were so soft—_so _soft, and _so_ warm. And so big. Shuddering breaths came out of him as he gently worked around them with his hands, feeling their weight, their heft, their softness. He was gentle, tender, kind. He sucked in a breath as he felt her big nipples stiffen in his hands. God, he was going to cum in his pants.

Shizuka drew in a breath of her own. She basked in how wonderful it all felt. She hadn't felt this good since before _that_ man's fingers had been around her throat. Even then, she could barely think of a time when she'd felt _this_ good. And she still even had her clothes on. Takashi looked up for a moment. Their eyes met. Shizuka's heart fluttered. Oh, yes, she knew what _this_ feeling was.

"You have such nice hands, Komuro-kun," said Shizuka.

"I… th-thanks..."

Shizuka leaned forward, and inclined her head. Her face came very close to his. "I wonder what _else_ you have that's nice?" Their lips were inches apart. Takashi's head moved forward, ever so slightly…

"I think I found some emergency flashlights, so—_what are you doing?!_"

The bark of a shout clapped through the room and shattered the peace. Takashi and Shizuka pulled apart. Rei was standing in the doorway, white as a sheet with eyes the size of dinner plates.

"R-Rei!" cried Takashi. "Rei, please, I-"

"Takashi! _Takashi!_" she roared, voice echoing through the building. "What are you doing? What? Sensei, what-" Anger twisted her pretty face. "What were _you_ doing, sensei?!"

Shizuka was not put off by Rei's wrath. She narrowed her eyes and arched her eyebrow. "Why is that your business, Miyamoto-chan?"

"Takashi is my business, _that's_ why!" shouted Rei, again at the top of her lungs. Quite naturally, the others flocked to the floor and the room, Saya, Kohta, and Saeko appearing in the doorway within seconds.

"What is this?" asked Saeko. She looked at Rei. She looked at Shizuka. She looked at Takashi. Her cold blue eyes flickered. "What _is_ this, Marikawa-sensei?"

Even with all those eyes on her, Shizuka was not perturbed. She flicked a strand of her hair over her shoulder and began to walk towards the door, towards all of them. "What it _is_ is nothing of your concern, Busujima-chan." She stood there, glaring at the four of them. "I'm going to go take a shower now. If you'd get out of my way, please."

"You—_you-!_" screeched Rei, voice so high in pitch that it actually made Kohta's ears hurt.

"Come on, come on, just let her by," said Saya. Nobody moved. "Just do it!" she snapped, using the air of command she'd always used with the servants at her parents' compound.

With looks of fear, wonder, disgust, and hatred, they all parted from the door, and Shizuka walked through it. She swung her hips a little as she passed the doorway, and glanced over her shoulder. "See you in a while, Komuro-kun." And she walked into the gloom of the hallway.

This left the four of them to turn towards Takashi, who looked like he'd been caught with blood on his hands. "Takashi!" screamed Rei. "What on earth—with _sensei_? Really?"

"I… I didn't mean..."

Tears sprang to Rei's eyes. "How could you? How _could_ you?!" She angrily stormed away, down the opposite end of the hall from where Shizuka had gone.

"Wait, Rei! I-" he started forward, but Saeko blocked his path. Her expression was still neutral. But her eyes sparkled like blue flames. "S-Saeko..."

She sighed, and shook her head. "Don't worry, Takashi. You're a man, after all." A nasty, evil look passed across her face. "It's not _you_ I blame..." And without another word she drifted out into the shadows of the hallway, silent as a cat.

Takashi stood there, a haunted look on his face. He sighed sharply, and turned, and walked back to the windows of the room, where the evening's red sunlight was rapidly giving way to dark dusk.

Kohta's eyes were huge behind his glasses. He turned to Saya. "Shizuka-sensei? Really?"

"I knew it," said Saya with gritted teeth. A vein was bulging in her forehead. She put a finger to her temple and rubbed it. "I _knew_ it. This is _exactly_ what I was afraid of."

"You knew this was happening?"

"I suspected," said Saya. "Uuuggghh," she groaned, leaning against the wall. "Things just got so much harder. Even harder than they were before."


	6. Chapter 6

They spent a tense night in the police station. Everyone got sleep, but none of them slept well, with the exception of Alice. The next morning, carrying all the guns and ammunition they could, they unblocked the door and made their way back onto the street. It had rained overnight, but they'd missed it for the most part, and the sky was gray, but a light gray, with no discernible rain clouds.

Alice glanced around at all her friends. She'd grown to regard them as a family. But there was a shadow over all of them now. They were miserable. "What's wrong with everybody, Saya-sama?"

Saya frowned. "I'll tell you when you're older."

The streets had been largely clear, with only a few stray members of "them" shuffling around. Takashi kept trying to find the proper place to make their turn, to end their detour, and head back towards his and Rei's neighborhood. It was hard to say when the best time and place would be. And, of course, he had a lot on his mind.

They raided a fast food place, an American burger chain, for lunch. So much of it was frozen, and frozen so cold, that it was still good, so with a little trial and error from Kohta and Takashi, there had been burgers and fries for all. They had eaten in silence. Their eyes did all the talking—especially in the cases of Rei, Saeko, and Shizuka.

They had rested a little then. Shizuka had gone outside, and was standing in the playground area, the red, blue, green, and orange plastic slides and ladders empty and eerie in the gray afternoon. She thought about all the children that must have been playing at the place when the disease had hit. How many of those kids were "them" by now?

"_You_."

"Oh," she said, glancing over her shoulder. "I was wondering when you'd get to me."

"You _whore_," snarled Rei, walking out into the play area and straight up to Shizuka. "You cheap slut!"

"I'm not the one who dated another man just to make Komuro-kun feel jealous."

Rei's brown eyes bulged and some of her bravado was gone. "H-How did you-?"

"You'd be surprised all the gossip you hear as the school nurse," said Shizuka. "Some of it's true, some of it isn't. But I do know it's a little rich for the likes of _you_ to be throwing those two words around."

"I… fuck you!" snapped Rei. "Or—all right, fine," she said, fury rising in her eyes again. "Sensei, I'm going to warn you. This is the first time, and there won't be many more times: back off."

"You know, I once watched an American movie, and in it, a character said that if you have to tell somebody to stay away from your girl, is she really your girl?" Shizuka smirked. "It's the same for guys, isn't it?"

"Takashi likes _me_," growled Rei, wrath boiling on her face. "He likes me, and we're going to get married someday!"

"Oh, really?" Now it was Shizuka's turn to laugh, a husky, sexy chuckle that rocked her shoulders and jiggled her boobs. "Sure, I guess you're just going to find a chapel and a priest and you'll make it official."

"Don't you _dar_e mock that," snarled Rei. And suddenly, amid her anger, her face softened, and there was a sadness in her eyes. "What happened to you, Shizuka-sensei? You never used to be so nasty. You used to be nice."

Shizuka's hazel eyes flared. "Nice people get raped. Nice people get killed."

"Listen, I know… I know what you went through." Anger flashed on Rei's face again. "But that's no excuse! You're not just allowed to use your sad story as an excuse to behave improperly! Being an adult is about coping with your misfortunes!"

"That's your opinion, Miyamoto-san."

"_Listen_," snarled Rei, voice dropping to a savage depth as she advanced on Shizuka. She came right up to the older, taller woman, and pointedly poked her index finger into Shizuka's left breast. "I have known Takashi since we were children. I have known, since that time, that we're meant for each other. Okay? Period."

"What is this, a visual novel?"

"He loves me. He loves me!" snarled Rei. "He loves me, and we _are_ going to get married, and I'll have him all to myself!"

"Is that what Busujima-san thinks?"

Rei's face went white as a sheet. But it quickly turned bright red again, and she became the angriest Shizuka had ever seen her. "It's ending… all this," she said, voice as sharp and hard as steel. "You said it yourself. All of "them" will rot to nothing in the warmer months. Then this world… this awful world… will be _over_. Order will be restored, peace will happen, and everything will get back to _normal_." She gritted her teeth and leaned hard into Shizuka. "Then Takashi and I will go to college. He will propose to me there. We will get _married_ and move to _Osaka_ and we will have a _house_ and _kids_ and a _dog_." She leaned right into Shizuka's face. "And we will both completely forget that either Busujima-senpai or _you_ ever existed."

Shizuka stared dead into Rei's eyes. Her expression had not changed for all of Rei's rant. But finally, she arched an eyebrow. "Is that what you really believe will happen?" She smirked. "Well, good luck with that."

"Ugh!" barked Rei, yanking herself away from Shizuka; the older woman's big breasts jiggled at the momentum. "Stay away from him, sensei! Don't go near him again!"

"Or else what?"

"O-Or else!" snarled Rei, who stormed back into the burger restaurant, slamming the door behind her.

"Tch," said Shizuka, curling her lip.


	7. Chapter 7

They kept moving. The turn, the move towards Rei and Takashi's neighborhood, kept taking longer to materialize. There was heavy fighting, and the roads and walls were doused in blood as the party made their way forward. Kohta was grateful for the new guns and all the ammunition, and Saeko's katana got plenty of use.

In a spectacular act of bravado, they'd cleared an entire spa, going room by room and wiping out all the staff and clients who had turned into "them" in the general panic at the start of the disease. All four of the women had had particular motivation to do this, and sure enough, when they were done, Saya had declared that they would rest there for a day or two. They barricaded the doors and hunkered down.

Shizuka hummed merrily to herself as she slipped her skirt on. The spa was extremely open and airy all over. It let in plenty of natural light, so that now, in the middle of the day, she didn't miss the electric lights at all. She'd just had a lovely soak in the hot tub, which had lacked bubbles but surprisingly had still been warm. Her big breasts had floated on the hot water as she'd luxuriated, feeling better than she had in a while.

Or, no, that hadn't been true. She'd still felt best when Takashi had touched her like that. Fixing her skirt, Shizuka bit her lip. She'd spent an hour thinking about _that_. She'd had a bit of fun in the hot tub, fantasizing about that glorious evening when Takashi had touched her. She wanted it to happen again. She wanted him to touch her again, to feel his hands on her breasts, her hips, her ass, everywhere. She wanted him to do even more than that.

So she was in quite a good mood as she sat on a bench in the dressing room, and prepared to put her boots back on. She hummed a catchy little J-Pop tune under her breath as she reached for her left boot-

Cold steel blocked her bending. She glanced down, and the blade of a katana was pressed, edge-first, against her chest. Shizuka huffed a breath. "So I guess it's your turn, huh?" The blade poked around, and edged itself inside her black tank top. It found what it sought, and there was a swift, subtle sawing motion. The blade cut Shizuka's left bra strap, and there was a soft but audible _wmph_ noise as her massive breasts plopped against her ribcage. She scowled. "That bra was new."

"I'm sure you have more," said Saeko. "Or else you can just steal more, the next time we pass a plus-sized shop. As few of those as there are in this country, anyway." The katana blade slid out of Shizuka's tank top and traced idly around her acres of cleavage. "Steal it, like the good little thief you are."

"Whatever," said Shizuka, rolling her eyes.

"Although it's wrong to call you _little_, isn't it?" Saeko still had not come around to face her, standing just to the side and behind Shizuka. "You are awfully big. You're just a big, dumb cow, really."

"Hmph," huffed Shizuka, barely bothered by the blade hovering around her chest and neck.

"You're so fat and slow. All you ever do is slow us down. Even Alice keeps pace better than _you_. There have been so many times I've been tempted to lead you off astray and just leave you behind. It would make us a lot lighter on our feet, that's for sure."

"Who'd treat your wounds, then?"

"Your skills are inadequate to solve a wound problem, given the current state of the world. Any wound that's serious enough to require your treatment is a wound that we'd be better off leaving a man behind over. That's how the world works, now."

"You don't need to tell _me_ that, Busujima-san."

"So, then, your utility is not as great as you might imagine it to be." The blade of the katana drifted up, its sharp edge turning towards Shizuka's throat. "And now there's been… this. And it's seriously made me wonder if you've become more trouble than you're worth."

"Isn't that for Komuro-kun to decide? He's the leader."

"Oh, yes, Takashi _is_ our leader." Saeko's voice dropped to a growl. "Is that what attracted you to him? Cheap, loose women are often attracted to power."

"Is that why you're attracted to him?"

"I see into his heart. He's seen into mine, in turn."

"Well if that's the case," said Shizuka, gazing over her shoulder, "why threaten me at all? If you _do_ know his heart..." she smiled, "shouldn't you already know I pose no threat?"

Saeko curled her lip at this, but soon smoothed out her face and became neutral again. "As I told Takashi himself at the police station: he is a man, after all. I don't blame him for having a weakness for feminine wiles. I'd be worried if he didn't. And, maybe, that's the problem." Saeko laughed, a lower, softer version of that hyena noise. "Maybe I'm just honest with myself. If it's a question of feminine charms, in a contest of men and women… who can compete with you?"

"Heh," said Shizuka, with a smirk.

The katana blade moved out and down. The blade's dull side drifted under her chest, and Shizuka winced a little as Saeko used the sword to heft her huge right breast. "A big, dumb cow with her big, dumb udders. But men like that sort of thing. I know that all too well." The blade twisted, and now the sharp edge pressed against the soft, plump flesh. "Maybe I should cut them off? How enticing would you be to Takashi without them?" The blade drew away. "Then again, you'd still have your long legs and your big hips and that big bottom of yours. You really are blessed, aren't you? Such a nice body."

_Nice body—_Shizuka flinched at this, finally having her composure broken. "Fuck off," she snarled.

"I will if you promise to leave Takashi be."

"Miyamoto-san already tried this. She failed, and so will you."

"Don't make this difficult, sensei."

"Maybe you should have more confidence in Komuro-kun." She smiled. "Or I guess what you're saying is that your _own_ feminine charms are inadequate?"

She expected a harsh response to this. But, instead, Saeko finally walked around her, standing directly in front of her as she sat on the bench. The black-haired girl's face was neutral, as almost always. But there was something in her eyes that Shizuka had not expected. She thought she saw… surprise.

"You are taking this _incredibly_ well," said Saeko. "I expected you to have broken down crying by now. How on earth are you so calm?"

"Things have changed," said Shizuka. Her eyes flared. "You've done a lot of talking. I'll do some now: you want Komuro-kun. So does Miyamoto-san. But guess what? I want him too. I want him and I'll take him. And if you want to _stop_ me… you'll have to do a whole lot more than just threaten." She narrowed her eyes and glared at Saeko.

And Saeko softly gasped. "Oh..." she whispered. Shizuka was confused. "Oh, my… that's it. Your eyes..." Saeko leaned closer, peering deep into Shizuka's face. "The others haven't seen it. Or I don't think they have. But I can see it. Your eyes… they were so bright once. So bright. So happy. But not now. Now they're cold. Cold and hard. What changed?" Her blade drifted close to Shizuka again. "When did the ditzy airhead die?"

Shizuka flinched back as Saeko leaned forward, terrifying blue eyes boring into her.

"Oh, _that_, of course," said Saeko. Her katana slowly, gently angled up towards Shizuka's neck. Still Shizuka showed no fear. The tip of Saeko's blade gently, harmlessly drifted across Shizuka's throat, until it touched, gently, on the scar on Shizuka's neck. "I guess that should have been obvious. That's what changed." She pulled back, and in a swift and fluid motion she sheathed her sword. "Still big, still a cow… but not so dumb any more, are you?" She smiled. "Well, good. Good for you."

"Are you done?" asked Shizuka.

"Yes… for now, I think I am," said Saeko. "This was not what I expected," she turned. "But it was interesting, nonetheless. Still, sensei, my warning stands: stay away from Takashi, for your own sake." So she turned, and with her usual ghostly silence she drifted out of the dressing room.

Shizuka watched her go. "Hmm," she hummed. "Well, whatever." So she bent down, and she resumed putting on her boots.


	8. Chapter 8

After two days to relax and recharge at the spa, they headed out again. Now they were in great good luck: a big overpass was just off the main road, and it would lead them directly across to where they wanted to go. It was broad and flat, and though there were plenty of "them" on it, there were no corners or bends where they could hide and lie in wait.

Kohta whipped his rifle around and blasted one's head off. He quickly dispatched two more. "Like shooting fish in a barrel," he said, a savage smirk on his face.

"Flat terrain _is_ rather nice," said Saeko, easily avoiding one of "them" and slicing it in two. "It maximizes our advantages and minimizes theirs."

Rei pirouetted elegantly and thrust with her bayonet, exploding the head of one of the creatures. She whipped around and shot another one's rotting brains out. "I knew Takashi would lead us the right way! This is so much better than fighting through those narrow neighborhood streets!" She turned towards him, watching him use his new combat shotgun to blast two of "them" apart in a single shot. "You're amazing, Takashi!"

"Thanks!" he called back, waving at her as he did. Rei beamed. Saeko and Shizuka scowled. Takashi flinched as all three women turned and glared daggers at each other.

They slowly, carefully walked across the overpass. In the middle, there were very few of "them," and it was easy for Kohta to dispatch them from a long distance off. To a great extent, there was peace. At least, there was peace _outside_ the party.

_Inside_ was another story. Indeed, Takashi felt more fear of the living than he did of the dead at that moment. Rei, Saeko, and Shizuka walked almost equidistant from him, all of them forming a kind of triangle-circle around him. Their plan of keeping Shizuka, Alice, and Zeke in the middle of the armed teenagers had fallen apart, and now Takashi himself was in the middle, hemmed in on all three sides by a very cranky, very angry woman. And they were indeed cranky, at him some but mostly at each other. He watched them steal glances at each other. They scowled. They snarled. They growled. Saeko, at least, muttered under her breath. It was all extremely intimidating, even from Shizuka who was big and soft and carried no weapon. Even she was dangerous, as much as the other two. They were like lions, tigers, big predator cats all ready to fight and claw at each other over a kill.

_Which makes me the meat, I guess_, he thought. "I suppose I should be flattered," he muttered softly.

"Wha?" asked Kohta.

"Nothin," Takashi mumbled. Even as a horny teenage boy he wasn't ignorant. As fun as it was to jerk off to the fantasy of all three of them servicing him in a wild sex session, there was a cold, logical part of him that knew this couldn't last.

* * *

They made it across the overpass and immediately found a house with a gate. It was a big house, with multiple bedrooms and a high wall surrounding it. A rich family had clearly owned it; their walking corpses roamed the premises, and the party had had to go room to room to clear it. But clear it they had, and it was a fine place to stop for the night.

"I'm sleeping on the third floor," said Rei.

"Then I'll sleep on the second," said Shizuka.

"Which leaves the first for me, I suppose," said Saeko. "If we're going to be childish about it."

"If you want to talk childish-" Rei started-

But Saya raised her arm. "Say, why don't we all take a nap? We've had a long afternoon." She turned to Alice. "Hey, Munchkin, why don't you and Shizuka-sensei go have a nap? You haven't relaxed with her in ages."

"Yay!" cried Alice. "Oh, let's relax, Miss Shizuka! You can sing to me, like you did before!"

"I… oh, yes," said Shizuka. She smiled, and tried to put on a pleasant face, though it was difficult. "Come on, Alice-chan, let's…" she sighed tiredly, "let's go relax." She took the little girl by the wrist and led her towards the stairs. "Watch the blood," said Shizuka, deftly stepping over the stain in the carpet.

"I'm going to sit in my room for a bit," said Rei.

"As am I," said Saeko. "The water still works, I may clean my blade. Have to remain on edge… eh, Takashi?"

"Y-Yeah," said Takashi.

"Whatever," snarled Rei, stomping towards the stairs. Saeko glided off towards a hallway, down which she knew was a bedroom.

Saya vibrated in place until she knew both of them were gone. When she heard Saeko's door slam shut she dragged her fingers down her cheeks. "AaaaaAAAAAAAAGGHHH!" she wailed. "This is worse than I could possibly have imagined!" She put her head in her hands. "They're going to kill each other!"

"Do you really think so, Saya-chan?" said Takashi, sitting next to her.

"Ugh," Saya slumped against the cushions of the expensive couch. "Why do you have to be so fucking irresistible to women, you idiot?"

"You're resisting just fine."

"You big dumb Casanova," said Saya, jamming a finger into Takashi's chest. "I've been tempted, too! Face it, Takashi, you're handsome, you're charismatic, you're ferocious in battle, and you walk the fine line between adapting to the end of the world and maintaining a code of chivalry. You are a _catch_ in this new world."

"But you _are_ resisting pretty well, really," said Kohta, quietly cleaning his rifle on a towel he'd spread across the carpet.

Saya smirked, her fang visible. "I watched him poop his pants at his own birthday party when he was seven years old. I've developed a level of immunity to his charms." A blush then crept up her cheeks. "There's also _other_ things that I, a genius, like in a man. Things Takashi doesn't have… that other people do." She glanced up at the ceiling. Takashi and Kohta shared a look. Kohta waggled his eyebrows. Takashi grinned at him.

"A-Anyway," said Takashi, snapping out of his fun. "I actually am glad you're not after me too. I feel like I'm going to go crazy around them all. I'm not sure whether to jerk off or scream."

"I don't blame you," said Saya. "This is everything I feared when I found out Shizuka-sensei made you call her by her first name. I worried that exactly this would happen. But, like I said, this is much more awful than even I anticipated."

"What's the worst-case scenario?" asked Kohta.

"Worst-case scenario?" Saya made a haunted expression. "Worst case scenario is Busujima-senpai _slits the throats_ of Miyamoto-san and Shizuka-sensei as they sleep. I think—I hope—that she has enough restraint and self-control _not_ to do that. But honestly, at this point, I can't rule it out."

Takashi huffed, an angry breath. He looked down at the floor. "I should have settled all this when it was just Rei and Saeko. I should have laid down the law and..." he drew in a rattling breath, "… and just picked one of them! At least let one of them know she's lost!"

"But they don't want to lose," said Saya. "Neither of them do. And now all _three_ of them don't." She sighed, exhausted, and slumped against the couch. "Honest to God, every bit of this is sensei's fault."

"Hey!" said Takashi. "Shizuka-chan has-"

"After all the trouble she's caused, still calling her 'chan,' still using her first name," said Saya. She arched a pink eyebrow at him. "Maybe you've already made your choice, Takashi, you're just afraid to admit it."

"No, no… I..." he huffed out a breath. He tried to ignore the extremely vivid memories of his hands on Shizuka's breasts. "I guess the thing is, is it fair to blame Shizuka-chan? All three of them are to blame, right?"

Saya slumped sideways, putting her cheek in her hand. "Yes and no," she said. "I knew we had a problem in the mall, when Busujima-senpai and Miyamoto-san started to openly compete for you. I knew it was a crack that could break our entire group apart. But… it wasn't so bad. Not with just the two of them." Saya readjusted her glasses. "Busujima-senpai is scary, but subtle. Like that dumb sword of hers. She kills silently, without fuss. Miyamoto-san is her opposite. She thrusts and advances boldly, like the spear she learned to use. I thought I could see…" Saya put a fist to her chin, "I thought they would compete for you. I thought it could be bad. But they were balanced. They were opposites, and they made a neutral thing. I knew one would win and the other would lose, but I thought the loser would be manageable. And even if she wasn't, we'd only have _one_ loser to deal with."

"But now we've got sensei," said Kohta, oiling the barrel of his rifle.

"Yes, and it's a disaster," said Saya. She huffed a growling breath. "Shizuka-sensei has been… aggressive. Assertive. More than I could ever have anticipated. My God, that rape attempt broke her brain!" Saya tugged on her pink pigtails. "And now she's coming after you with an aggression that blows Miyamoto-san out of the water, and a nastiness that rivals Busujima-senpai. And as a _result_ of that, both of the other two girls have become more aggressive as well. Miyamoto-san and Busujima-senpai, when it was just the two of them, were quiet rivals. They were content to fight softly. Marikawa-sensei has blown it all open. _Her_ behavior has got them all ready to literally fight over you."

"Hey, come on, now," said Kohta. "Girls don't actually fight. You guys, you know, insult each other, backstab each other, call each other mean names behind each other's backs. You don't _actually_ fight."

"Oh, yes we do, fatty!" snapped Saya. "You should thank the good gods of Japan that you've never _seen_ an all-girl fight. They're brutal. I'd rather face "them" any day."

Saya sighed. Neither of the boys spoke immediately. The three of them sat there, watching the afternoon turn to evening, watching the sunlight play its way across the white stucco walls.

"So," said Takashi at last, "you really think they're going to fight each other."

"It's only a matter of time," said Saya. "Busujima-senpai has grown comfortable solving problems with violence. Miyamoto-san is fierce and hot-blooded. Marikawa-sensei… doesn't seem to care how big a mess she makes, any more, as long as she gets her way. They can only glare hatred at each other for so long before one of them tries to physically harm the other two." Saya rubbed her temples. "It's probably going to be sensei. She seems to have fewer restraints on her behavior even than Busujima-senpai… which is not a thing I would ever have imagined myself saying, at the start of all this."

"Is there a way to stop it?" Takashi asked. Sunset was beginning; the golden sunlight was beginning, ever so vaguely, to turn an orange hue.

"Harem end?" said Kohta. Takashi's eyes bulged hugely. "What? I was just saying-"

"Don't be a _pervert_, fatty!" roared Saya, picking up a decorative pillow from the couch and throwing it at Kohta. "Harem ends are almost impossible to pull off!" She turned. "Besides, Takashi, you..." She quirked an eyebrow. "What do _you_ think about… such a thing?"

"I…" Takashi swung his head hard back and forth. "This is rough stuff. I can't choose! I don't… I just..." Saya looked hard at him. Kohta looked up at him from his seat on the floor. Takashi felt trapped by their twin gazes. "I don't want to disappoint any of them! And they're all so great… so amazing..." His breath caught in his throat.

"I know who you've chosen," said Saya.

"I haven't chosen anyone yet!"

"Yes you have," said Saya. "You just don't want to admit it to yourself. You don't want to admit it because you're stupidly loyal. Like some… dumb dog. A golden retriever. It's part of what makes you a _catch_."

"H-Hey!"

"So if Komuro picks one of them, is that going to head off the violence?" asked Kohta.

"No," said Saya. "It's all gotten too nasty. There's so much hate, so much poison, between the three of them. And it's all gotten so much worse since the mall." Saya rubbed her temple again, jostling her glasses. "Damn that rapist! Everything that flowed from _that_ has been a nightmare."

Takashi thought. He saw their faces, floating. Rei. Saeko. Shizuka. All of them had smiled at him, had laughed at him, had been tender and kind and sweet with him. Now they were all ready to kill each other _over_ him. He hated it. He hated it even more than the boner it sometimes gave him. This wasn't some dumb ero fantasy. This was real. This was terrifying and awful. It made him sick.

"What if they all just work it out for themselves?" said Kohta. "The three of them, I mean."

"Well, that _is_ a possibility," said Saya, gazing up at the ceiling. "It's faint and remote, but it could happen." She huffed a breath. "I guess that would be better for us all." They all sat there, as the sun began to set.


	9. Chapter 9

They moved on the next morning, leaving the opulent and empty house behind. They began to move into the very outskirts of Rei and Takashi's childhood neighborhood, the very beginnings of what had been, to this point, their ultimate destination. They were still very far from Shintoko Third Elementary School, and from all the other landmarks that both Rei and Takashi ultimately hoped to see. But the party had reached such a point that both teenagers began to see things they recognized.

And, a little before noon on the next day, they rounded a corner, and Shizuka saw a sign on a post. She pointed to it. "That's… signs for a clinic, isn't it?"

They all looked up. "Oh, yeah!" said Takashi. "The quick clinic out here. I remember when it opened; I was in middle school then. You remember, Rei?"

"I remember," Rei responded. "The homeowners group had a ribbon-cutting ceremony and everything."

"Might not be a bad place to head towards," said Kohta.

"It might still be stocked," said Shizuka. "I could get some medical supplies."

"What sort of supplies do you mean?" said Saeko, who narrowed her eyes and glared at Shizuka as she spoke.

Shizuka scowled back at her. "Bandages. Gauzes. Medical tape. Painkillers. Useful stuff. You all do want to have that around, don't you?" She put her hands on her hips and stood there, imperiously.

Once again, for the umpteenth time, all three warring women spared a moment to glare at each other. Saya broke the tension: "That sounds like a good idea." She turned to Takashi. "Even if we find yours and Rei's parents, we'll still be stuck out here in this… wasteland. Medical supplies would be useful."

Takashi nodded. "Agreed. Let's go." Shizuka smirked, and Rei and Saeko scowled.

They were halfway to the clinic, a few bends and turns away, when they saw some good fortune. Saeko had just chopped the head off a lone one of "them," sending it messily spattering to the ground. The streets clear otherwise, she looked up, and her eyebrows rose. "Hey!" she said, calling over her shoulder. The others came quickly, and Saeko pointed. "Look. Police car."

It was a patrol car that had crashed into the concrete wall of a taller building. The front end was smashed, totaled, but the cab of the car was mostly intact. "Takashi," said Rei, "you remember the beginning?"

"We've been doing that a lot lately," said Takashi.

"Well, remember that one police car we saw, when we were both on the motorcycle?" Rei glanced purposefully at him. "Remember, one of the dead cops had a gun on him. There might be a gun in this car, as well."

"Worth checking out," said Kohta. "Let's be careful."

Moving with stealth and care, the seven of them (plus Zeke) approached the car. The bodies in the front seat were immediately visible, and they only sharpened into greater detail as the party approached. Both officers in the front seat were dead, of course, and both were rotting, decaying, stinking and oozing. Saya told Alice to stay back as the rest of them came closer. Takashi pried open the driver's side door, and he could see that the officer on the passenger side was smashed into the neck of the driving officer, mouth open.

"Looks like the officer in the passenger's seat got bitten," said Takashi.

"Yeah," said Kohta, moving close. "The one in the passenger's seat turned into one of "them" and lunged to bite the driving officer. That's probably what caused them to crash. They were both dead instantly from the impact." Kohta bowed his head. "Just as well, I guess."

"S-So what have they got?" asked Rei. "Are we gonna look for guns?"

"Oh, right," said Kohta, walking to the open driver's side door. He leaned into the decaying driver and, with a hiss of regret, began to rummage through his outfit. His defilement of the corpse was almost immediately rewarded. "Oh, hey!" he said brightly, pulling at something inside the officer's bulletproof vest.

"What did you find?" asked Saya.

"Some good shit," said Kohta. He unbuckled the holster inside the bulletproof vest and drew it out, with its gun inside. He yanked the gun from the holster. "This is a great gun. This is a Ruger SP101! It's a double-action revolver that can take a good range of ammo, from .38 special to .357 magnum to even a .9mm!" He held up the revolver with its compact body and slightly stubby barrel. "This is made by an American company. It's different than-" he paused. He hitched. His face contorted in sadness. He drew in a sharp breath. "It's different than… than the Smith and Wesson M.37 Airweight, the gun… the gun I gave Asamai-san." They all winced at this. But Kohta sucked in a breath and straightened his spine, and his moment of grief passed. He hefted the revolver again. "Anyway, this is definitely not standard issue for Japanese police. This guy must have been a bit of a gun nut." He grinned fiercely at the thought. "He definitely bought this with his own money. And I think he's got a decent amount of ammo on him, too. On top of that, like I mentioned: this gun can use a wide range of bullet types!"

"So it's a good gun, then," said Takashi.

"It's great to have," said Kohta, pulling packets of ammunition out of the center console. "It's a very good gun. It's pretty compact, and decently lightweight, but it's got a good amount of man-stopping power, despite that."

"So we should take it?" asked Takashi.

"Definitely," said Kohta. He looked back at the rest of them. "Although all of us do have weapons by now..." his eyes stopped. "Oh! Except for you, Marikawa-sensei. Here, this can be yours." He stretched his hand towards her, the Ruger in it.

Shizuka's eyes bulged. "Me?" she said. "A gun… for me?" Saya winced beside her.

"Sure!" said Kohta. "Everyone else has a gun by now. And this is a great fit for you. It's not an assault weapon; it's meant primarily for self-defense. You won't be killing one of "them" at two hundred meters, but if one of them ambushes you in the dark, you can use it. It's ideal for you." He stretched his hand out towards her, ignoring the worried look from Saya.

Shizuka's own hand came out, and she took the revolver from him, clutching it in her right arm. It felt strange in her hand, too heavy and too coldly metallic. "I… don't know the first thing about shooting," she said.

"I'll teach you," said Kohta. "I've been teaching Saya, after all." He grinned at Saya, only to be surprised when she scowled at him.

"Shizuka-sensei, if you're uncomfortable-" Rei started, sounding a little too eager.

"No," said Shizuka. "It's just… one more thing to learn, in the new world." She slipped the revolver into the pocket of her green military shirt. Kohta stuffed the ammo from the patrol car into his backpack. Shizuka felt the weight of the gun against her body. It was… strange. But not unpleasant. She smiled. "Come on, let's keep going," and she walked forward.

"I agree," said Takashi. "Let's go."

"Come on, Komuro-kun," said Shizuka, sounding tender as he came alongside her.

"Nrgh," grunted Rei. Saeko was silent, but curled her lip and exposed her teeth. Both of them quickly moved to keep pace with the two at the front.

"Great, great gun," said Kohta, slamming the door of the wrecked car shut. "We were lucky to find it." He turned to Saya, and flinched backwards. She was glaring daggers at him. "What?" She continued to glare. "_What?_"

"Was it really a good idea to give Marikawa-sensei a gun?"

"She ought to learn to defend herself!" said Kohta. "It was always my long-term plan to arm all of us, and now I've done it."

"I guess," said Saya. She looked back at the rest of them, moving away. "It's just..." she glanced to the side, worry in her pretty brown eyes. "It's just that, now all _three_ of them are armed."

"O-Oh," said Kohta, suddenly remembering everything going on. "Oh. I didn't think of that."

"Of course you didn't, fatty," growled Saya, walking forward. "Of course you didn't." She hurried to catch up to the rest of them, Alice and Kohta and Zeke following in her wake.


	10. Chapter 10

Within an hour, they'd reached the clinic. It had been largely empty; they had only discovered three of "them" straggling around the building. Still, they had checked it thoroughly, and it had been another hour before Takashi had been prepared to pronounce the place clean. But once that was done, they again relaxed, barring the doors and taking a moment to breathe. It was tempting to stay the night here, though both Takashi and Rei had a growing eagerness to move closer to where their parents might be. Still, they decided to stay and rest a bit. As a bit of good fortune, they'd found lots of emergency rations in the depths of the clinic, many of which seemed to still be good.

Shizuka stuffed yet more things into the bag she'd found. The clinic was not _fully_ stocked, which was hardly surprising given what had transpired across the country over the last two months. Medical supplies had been depleted and there had been no easy way to replenish them. Nonetheless, she found quite a bit that was useful. Bandages, gauze pads, painkillers, antiseptic, wound stitches, local anesthetic, and that was just for starters. It was all quite nice. She hummed in satisfaction. After all these weeks finding things to satisfy Busujima-san and Hirano-san, she was finally in one of _her_ playgrounds.

"Going well?" asked a voice behind her.

Shizuka's heart swelled and a smile beamed on her face. "Oh, Komuro-kun!" she said, happily turning around. "Yes, very well indeed." She grinned and giggled. Takashi stood there in the doorway, a wary expression on his face. Shizuka looked playfully at him. "Well, come on in! It's an examination room, after all."

Takashi wandered into the doctor's room, seeing the doctor's couch in one corner, seeing the desk and the chair, seeing the rows of cabinets and drawers. There was a skylight overhead, letting in lots of natural daylight. He vaguely recalled being taken here for a checkup by his mother once, so very long ago. It felt even longer ago these days. He shook his head. "So you've found what you need, Shizuka-chan?"

"Yes," nodded Shizuka. "There are plenty of supplies here, all easy to carry. And look, I even found a bag to put them all in." She lifted the satchel she was carrying, letting Takashi see its dark blue form. "This is particularly handy, now I don't have to worry about running out of space for things. I can put my gun in here, too."

"I think we're going to be leaving soon," said Takashi. "Rei's really eager to get going."

Shizuka's face grew dark at this. "Always doing what Miyamoto-san says, huh?"

Takashi blanched, realizing far too late that he'd tripped on a landmine. "Sh-Shizuka-chan, we just want to find our families."

"Is that really the only reason?"

"I don't think..."

"What?" Shizuka arched an eyebrow. Takashi drifted backwards, glancing to the side. "You promised you'd be honest with me, Komuro-kun."

"Rei is… a friend," said Takashi. "You know that by now, don't you? I've known her almost as long as I've known Saya. We've lived in this… this same neighborhood together, all this time. We go a long ways back."

"I know." Shizuka's brows rose as Takashi looked at her, surprised. "She told me she wants to marry you."

"Sh-She did say that?" said Takashi. He growled and shook his head. "I guess that's what she says."

"Does that matter?" Takashi looked up. Shizuka moved closer to him, hands at her side. Her green military shirt was once more tied around her waist, putting those shoulders and those arms and those _breasts_ on prominent display. "That wish she has… that promise she's made… does it matter now?" Before Takashi knew it she was right in front of him, hair in that messy ponytail, breasts and hips swelling so wide. "Does it matter, or is it just one more relic of the old world?"

Takashi almost couldn't think straight when Shizuka did this—when she came in close, and fixed him with that gorgeous hazel gaze of hers. But he fought the urge to enjoy the moment. "H-Hey!" he said sharply. "Listen, you've caused a lot of trouble, Shizuka-chan. You're..." he tried to remember some of Saya's words, "you're making a mess."

Shizuka actually flinched backwards at this. A look of regret fluttered across her face. But it didn't reach her eyes—so was it real, or an act? "I..." she said. "I do… want us to survive..."

"Shizuka," said Takashi. He said it firmly, and she fixed her eyes on him. Really looking, really staring at his face. It was thrilling. He hissed a breath and tried to remain calm. How had she come to matter so much to him in so little time? He'd known her even less time than he'd known Saeko. "Shizuka, you've been making a mess and causing trouble for weeks now. You've got us all unsettled and on edge. And it is you. It is you! The heart of all this trouble is _you_. Do you understand that? Do you appreciate that? You wanted me to be honest with you, so I will! You've caused problems, Shizuka. You..." her big hazel eyes twitched, and he fought the erection that swelled in his pants. "Things could get very bad between us all, Shizuka-chan, and it's your fault."

Shizuka's face was briefly worried, even frightened—a look he hadn't seen from her in weeks. But all of a sudden, she narrowed her eyes, and ferocity blossomed within them. "Now it's my turn to be honest," she said firmly. "And honestly, Komuro-kun, I..." she drove herself forward, pressing herself into him. "I need you. I want you. Everything I thought about you has changed. You're… the most important person in the world to me." She began to wrap her arms around him, snaking them around his torso and drawing herself up against him. "Miyamoto and Busujima are after you. I know that. But..." her eyes grew hard, and sharp. "I can't tolerate that! They don't matter! Not like you matter to me! I..." Takashi's eyes bulged as Shizuka pulled a hand away from him and feathered it across her throat. He knew the scar was there; he'd seen it before. "I had nothing and you gave me _everything_, when no one else could. And I've loved you ever since. I know it hasn't been a long time." She leaned fiercely, face right in front of his. "But fuck that. Who cares how long? Miyamoto's known you since you were a kid? Fuck that. I don't care. She doesn't matter. None of them matter. All that matters is you… and me. That's what matters in the new world."

They were almost the same height. She stared almost straight into his eyes, and he felt thrills race up his spine. He could feel her hot breath on his face. It was frightening. He stared into her eyes in the silence. She was angry, desperate, worried, frightened, all at once. And…

And…

And it triggered something in him that was unwise. It made something twitch in his ribcage. It made him, deep in his brain, say 'fuck it.' Maybe Saya was right. Maybe he had made his choice.

Shizuka sadly began to glance off to the side. She'd played the best gambit she'd possessed. There were plans she could make, but her strongest card had been dealt. "S-So," she began, "I..."

"Shizuka-chan."

She gasped softly as Takashi gently, tenderly gripped her by the jaw. Her beautiful eyes widened as Takashi drew her face directly in front of his.

Takashi smiled at her. "You're pretty when you're desperate." And he pulled her in, and he kissed her.

"Mmm," hummed Shizuka. She pulled him tighter against herself, leaning into the kiss. He slid his tongue into her mouth and she returned the favor, deepening the kiss, heart racing, coming alive. Her great big breasts completely surrounded and overflowed his chest. "Mmm." Mouth full of his she pressed against him, and then she moaned in delight as Takashi pressed back, as he _pushed_ her back, using that raw masculine strength, and Shizuka let out a coo of satisfaction as Takashi broke the kiss and trailed his lips along her jawline.

He reached into her tank top and kneaded her right breast; they were so big they were like globes, and he had to feel around them, taking care due to their size. His fingertips sank into her tit flesh. His lips reached her throat and he bit her neck in a surge of desire. Shizuka moaned in pure bliss. This was a pain on her neck she _enjoyed_.

"Take my bra off." She was panting. Takashi's eyes came open. Their gazes met, and they both wanted exactly the same thing. "Take my bra off," she said. "Clip's in the back." Their hands were all over each other. Takashi's right hand snaked up her tank top and fumbled for the clasp. His other hand began to fiddle with her skirt. Shizuka's own left hand guided his towards the zipper of her skirt, while her other hand began to work over the waistband of his pants. The _tink_ of metal was loud in the room as she got his belt unbuckled, her huge breasts dropped heavily as he undid her bra-

"Okay!" cried a loud voice from somewhere deep in the clinic. "Okay!" It was Saya's voice. "I reckon it's time to go! Let's get a move on, everyone!"

Shizuka and Takashi both drew breaths in sharply, and both pulled apart. Both of them were breathing hard. Takashi grimaced as he felt the huge erection in his pants. He felt so utterly disheveled and out of sorts. That was certainly how Shizuka _looked_. Her hair was even messier than usual, and her tank top was so frumpy that it was clear he'd been fooling with it. And that was nothing compared to the _hickey_ he'd left on her neck. "Oh..." he said, eyes wide. Shizuka still smiled at him, looking hungry and eager. "Oh, they're all gonna kill me."

"Let them come," growled Shizuka, baring her incisors. "Let them try and stop me. Stop us! I'll help you take them on!"

"No… no… I..." Takashi redid his belt buckle. "I've gotta go fix this." He ran back into the darkness of the hallways of the clinic.

"There you are!" said Rei brightly. Takashi had just come out through the front doors, out into the light of the bright afternoon. Spring truly was coming: the sun would have started to set by now a month ago, but now it was still quite high in the sky. "Come on, Tagaki-san looked at a map in the clinic! She thinks there's a hostel nearby where we can find beds for the night." She beamed happily at him. But her joy died as she looked at him, saw how uncertain and frightened he looked. "Takashi, what is it?"

"I..." said Takashi.

"Oh, no," whispered Saya.

"What is it, Takashi?" asked Saeko. Her blue eyes narrowed. "What happened?"

"I..."

At that moment Shizuka emerged from the doors of the clinic, twirling her hair and humming a little tune under her breath. This was already enough to make Saeko, Rei, Saya, and Kohta gape in shock. But that was nothing compared to what happened next: pausing next to Takashi, Shizuka gave him a beaming, tender look, and then leaned in and daintily kissed him on the cheek. Takashi felt like he'd been stabbed.

"_What_ did you _do_?" growled Saeko, taking a step forward.

"That's none of _your_ business, Busujima-san," said Shizuka, jauntily putting her hands on her hips and smirking down at them.

"H-Hey now," said Kohta. "We're all a team..."

Alice gaped at the two on the stairs. "Miss Shizuka and Mister Takashi? No way!"

"You _whore_," growled Rei. "I told you, sensei! I told you! What did I _say_, sensei?" She surged forward.

"Hmm," hummed Shizuka. She theatrically put a finger on her chin. "You know, Miyamoto-san, I don't quite remember what you said." She glared down at Rei from the top of the stairs. "Maybe you should _remind _me."

Rei's eyes almost popped out of her head. Cold dark ugliness blossomed in her chest. "Oh I'll do more than _that_," she growled, hands suddenly grasping the powerful rifle around her waist.

"Hey, Miyamoto!" cried Kohta. "Be careful where you point that thing!"

"I intend to be!" snapped Rei, finger already on the trigger.

Saeko nodded gently. "Perhaps it's time." Her hand went to her katana's hilt, and she began to slowly slide the sword out of its scabbard. She glanced at Shizuka, and then she _also_ glanced at Rei. But suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed her wrist. Snarling in anger, Saeko turned. "Takagi-san!" she snapped.

"Please!" cried Saya, hand gripping Saeko's wrist hard. "Please!"

Saeko glared ferociously at Saya, looking very much like she wanted Saya to be third after Shizuka first and Rei second. Kohta, combat instincts flaring, reached for his rifle even as another part of his mind told him this would make things worse. Even Shizuka, who had no combat instincts at all, stuck a hand into her bag and grasped for her revolver. Only Takashi made no move for a weapon or a person. He stood there, frozen, bowled over in shock as he saw all of his comrades ready to attack each other. It had come to this at last.

Or, well, Takashi wasn't the _only_ one not to reach for a weapon. Zeke barked loudly, clearly nervous at the heightened tension in the air. And all of a sudden, Alice burst from their midst and stood at the foot of the stone stairs, hands spread wide. "Please!" she cried, eyes pricking with tears. "Please, don't fight! Don't hurt each other!" She was practically screaming. "You're my family! I love you! Don't hurt each other!"

That seemed to snap all the older people out of their murderous intent. Rei rocked backwards like she'd been slapped. Her finger left the trigger of her rifle. A sick bile gathered in the pit of her stomach. She'd been prepared to do it. To kill someone who wasn't "them." To kill a living, breathing human being. Even Shidou hadn't pushed her this close to the edge.

And yet… when she looked up at Shizuka, and looked to the right at Saeko, it was so easy for the hatred to flare up again. It was so easy to look up at Takashi, standing there at the top of the stairs, and want to kill for him. This was what had happened to her. She shook her head hard. "Okay," she said, breaking the silence. "Okay, Alice-chan. No hurting. For you." She glared up at Shizuka. "But only for you."

Saeko stood poised, hand on her sword as the rest of them all calmed down. That impulse to kill, to murder, was still mighty in her heart. It couldn't be quelled… until she looked up, again at Shizuka. The big-figured nurse was still glaring down at them all. _She_ hadn't relaxed. She and Saeko were the only ones who hadn't. They were both still ready to fight, to claw, to kill. They were both… very much alike, to Saeko's own surprise.

"Very well," she said, sliding her half-drawn katana back into its sheath. "No killing today. Not of the living, anyway." At this, Shizuka finally ceased to be tense, and the entire group was, at last, at ease.

"Hooray!" cried Alice, jumping up and down.

"Oh, thank God," muttered Saya, sagging off to the side. "I need a drink."

A chuckle rose. They all looked up. Takashi was laughing gently, but heavily, under his breath. "You know, Saya, I think there's a bar nearby."

"Aww, hell yeah," said Kohta.

"You want to _drink_ at a time like this?" snarled Rei.

"After all of us stepping off the ledge?" said Takashi with a smile, walking down the stone steps at last. "Yeah, I think it'd be appropriate."

Rei rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said.

"Well if Komuro-kun wants a little beer, who's to stop him?" said Shizuka, coming daintily down the steps. "I say he leads us there."

"Fine," muttered Rei.

"I think we could all use _something_ to relax," said Saya. "We desperately need it!" She swung her arm out towards the streets. "Lead on, Takashi."

"Ugh," said Takashi, walking away from the clinic. "Just anything to get us out of this situation." Alice scampered after him; she clutched at his arm, and he held hers with affection. Rei and Shizuka walked almost side-by-side, both of them still glaring at each other, growling under their breaths.

"Too close," muttered Saya, shaking her head as she walked. "Way, way too close."

"Better luck next time," said Kohta beside her.

"If there's a next time somebody's going to die. Mark my words," said Saya, eyes dark and bitter as the two of them walked off.

Saeko lingered behind. She was poised there, still and quiet as a statue, as her blue eyes seemed to flicker with thought. Much was going on there. And there was no clue as to what, exactly, she was thinking. Not until she said "Sensei," softly under her breath, then turned, and hurried off after the others.


	11. Chapter 11

Despite Takashi, Kohta, Saya, and Rei all getting extremely drunk that night, the tension that had blossomed at the clinic did not truly abate in the days ahead. They moved closer and closer to Takashi and Rei's neighborhood, passing through commercial areas of the city, and then more residential areas. One day they stumbled upon a very nice hotel, a traditional ryokan set a ways off from the bulk of the neighborhoods. Takashi vaguely remembered hearing about it when it had opened, but he'd never known much about it before. To their shock, it was completely abandoned. There were corpses, sure, but not a trace of "them" had been found on the property. To Saya, this was great good fortune, and it was a chance to relax yet again, before the final push towards their ultimate destination.

"Assuming there's anything to find when we get there," said Shizuka as the seven of them walked through the hallways, picking out rooms.

"Don't say that," said Takashi. Though her words sent fear up his spine. What if she was right? It wasn't a thing he liked to think about, but he couldn't help it.

"How often have we hoped for things, only to be disappointed?" said Shizuka, hefting her satchel on her shoulder. "Sweetie, I'm just saying-"

"You are _not_ going to call him 'sweetie,'" growled Rei. "Not if you don't want a bullet through your head."

"Well I don't see _you_ making him feel better," snarled Shizuka.

"Whore," growled Rei.

"Cunt," snarled Shizuka. The two women turned hard towards each other.

"Don't, don't, don't _fight_!" snapped Saya, coming between them. "God, don't kill each other in this nice hotel! Go to your rooms and finger yourselves if you want to blow off some steam!"

"Hmph," huffed Rei, peeling off down a different hall.

In a freakish bout of good luck, the hotel had a backup generator that was even shielded against EMPs. Kohta and Takashi had found it, and Kohta whistled at the heavy shielding. "Some luck! We'll have power tonight!"

"How on earth does a lowly ryokan have something like this?" asked Saeko.

"Who knows?" said Kohta with a shrug of his shoulders. "Maybe the owner was some crazy doomsday prepper. It's not unheard of." He found a large, heavy switch. "This should _do_ it..."

He turned the switch and there was a heavy _chunk_. A groaning, whining noise rose on the air. And all of a sudden, there was light. In the waning afternoon, they saw electric lights gleam into reality, one by one all of them coming on in the rooms, the hallways, the bathhouse, the courtyards. All of the space was bathed in light, lovely and inviting even in the daytime.

"Light!" cried Rei, tears coming to her eyes. "Light!"

"It's… beautiful," said Saeko softly, smiling despite herself.

"Much as I want to go home… I'll be sad to give this up," said Takashi. Something tense in his chest uncoiled a little, and the ghost of relaxation washed over him.

"I'm going to go take a shower," said Saya, walking off towards the back entrance of the ryokan.

"I am going to go take a _bath_," said Shizuka. "The evenings have grown pleasant. Maybe I'll sit outside for a change." Both Saya and Shizuka sauntered off, their voluptuous figures casting shadows in the coming evening. Rei watched them go, and the hatred that had simmered in her chest since that day at the clinic blossomed fully into flame all over again.

Evening drew on, and everyone freshened up at the surprisingly-fully-functional hotel. Shizuka had taken a resplendent bath, complete with candles and scented oils and pleasant lavender soap and flowery shampoo. It had been heavenly, not as good as her day at the spa but pretty close. To top it all off, she'd dug through the closet of her room and found, to her surprise, a kimono and some geta. The whole outfit wasn't there, of course, but it was quite a nice treat. The kimono was clearly made for someone whose figure was less impressive than hers. It left her with a ton of cleavage on display.

But this had its utility as well. She smirked, and wandered out into the hall.

"Komuro-kun..." she called softly. She'd let her hair flow freely, down her back and down her shoulders and over her breasts in the front. She had even put on a little lipstick. "Komuuuuuro-kuuun…." Now, where had Takashi said he'd be staying? It was on this Western hall…

"Looking for Takashi?"

Shizuka jumped. She whirled around, blond hair swirling. Even with the power on it was rather dark; the ryokan's hallways had only mood lighting, to heighten the rustic effect. So it was eerie, just a little, to watch Rei shimmer out of the shadows, eyes gleaming faintly in the dark. But Shizuka stood her ground. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"Going to go rock his world?" Rei's eyes narrowed. "Going to ask him for money when you're done?"

"Fuck you," snarled Shizuka.

Rei came in close, and Shizuka backed up until she was against the wall. Rei reached up, and Shizuka flinched away as Rei fingered the hickey on her neck. "This is from him, isn't it?" Rei gnashed her teeth. "You don't mind it when _he_ hurts your throat."

"Because it's totally different," said Shizuka, glancing down at Rei. "Because the other time… _that_ time..." she grimaced, and flinched away, "someone was trying to take something from me. Take everything that I held dear." She looked down at Rei again, and fingered the hickey herself. "Not like this. This… I gave someone an invitation… and he came in. And it was..." she drew in a breath and _sighed_, a lovely, gentle sigh filled to the brim with longing, and her eyes were suddenly far away.

Rei grimaced, and shook her head. "You actually do… like him, don't you? This isn't some power play… or a gimmick. It's not some trick you're trying to pull. You really do care about him… a lot."

"I love him," said Shizuka firmly. Now it was her eyes that gleamed, that glinted in the dark. "Did it take you that long to figure it out? You're not very smart."

"Rgh!" growled Rei, gritting her teeth and breaking away from Shizuka. "It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter what you think, it doesn't matter what Busujima-senpai thinks! Takashi is _mine_. Got it? Mine and mine alone!"

"I don't see your name on him."

"I don't see _his_ name on _you_."

"This isn't enough?" said Shizuka, pointing at her hickey. "It is his mouth, after all."

"You're… listen, give it up. I mean it!" cried Rei, suddenly very loud in the dim and quiet hallway. "I warned you once, the first time. You didn't listen. So consider this a warning for the last time. Back off. Don't come for Takashi again!"

Shizuka stopped snarling and growling and grimacing. Her face became kind as she gazed at Rei. Her eyes, even, were sad. "I can't do that, Miyamoto-chan." She sighed, and chuckled faintly. "That's not how the world works any more. And it's not what I want. It's not what I need. I need _him_. And he needs me."

"No he doesn't!" barked Rei. "You've tricked him, you've… you've bewitched him! With _these_," she growled, and she harshly poked Shizuka's right breast. Shizuka gritted her teeth. Rei saw her grimace, and smiled fiercely. "Oh, that _hurts_ doesn't it? I guess these are sensitive. I'm not so surprised, I've felt them before."

And then Rei snapped an arm out and grabbed hold of Shizuka's right breast directly. Shizuka wasn't wearing a bra. "Ah!" cried Shizuka as Rei angrily twisted her nipple. She flinched backward, hissing and grabbing her right breast. Anger and shock flared across her mind.

"I don't know what you think… maybe you really are in love. But whatever _your_ feelings are, I can assure you, Takashi doesn't need _you_ in his life. He needs me." Rei walked around Shizuka, and now she was standing in a corner, a bend in the hall. "You've tricked him and lied to him, twisted him to think the way you have. But I see his eyes. He's always loved me. He always will!"

The pain in her nipple had put Shizuka into an extremely bad mood. Now she rounded on Rei, and Rei was startled by the nasty look on her face. "I haven't lied," she said. "I haven't tricked. I haven't cheated." Rei backed up, and was surprised to find herself backed into the corner. Shizuka closed in on her, closer and closer, looming over her head. "But you know what, Miyamoto? I will. If I have to. I'll lie. I'll cheat. I'll trick. I'll steal. I'll kill." Rei flinched away as Shizuka's head was inches from hers. Her big blond hair was pooling, oozing down onto Rei's head, as if Rei was caught in a blond net. She looked up, and Shizuka's teeth were inches from her face. "I will do _whatever_ it takes to get Komuro-kun for myself. I am prepared to do _anything_. Everything." Her eyes glimmered in the twilight. Shizuka smiled, white teeth feral as she grinned. "The only question is, what are you prepared to do to try and stop me… little girl?"

Rei took one long, hard look deep into Shizuka's eyes. "Eep!" she squeaked. "Ah!" she cried, and pushed hard on Shizuka's right arm, sending her off-balance. Shizuka caught her feet, but not before Rei had squirted from her presence, crashing into a wall and bouncing off it as she tottered down the hallway. "You're crazy!" she cried, terror on her face. "You're crazy! You've gone as crazy as Busujima-senpai! You're _bad_ for Takashi! Both of you are! T-Takashi needs someone… sane!" She squealed again, and turned and ran down the hall, around the distant corner.

Shizuka brushed her hair out of her face. She crossed her arms under her big breasts. "I'm saner than _you_," she muttered.


	12. Chapter 12

They ultimately decided to spend two more days in the ryokan. Takashi and Rei—Rei in particular—both desperately wanted to see their families. But a solid 72 hours with electricity and amenities was hard to pass up, even for Rei.

"And of course," said Kohta on the third night, "we can come back here once we find your families. We can stay here."

"Stay here?" said Rei. They were gathered around a fire pit in the central courtyard. Saya, Rei, Takashi, Saeko, and Kohta were sitting closer. As they looked up, Shizuka came walking into the courtyard. She sat some distance away, off closer to the zen garden. She had just returned from putting Alice to bed.

"Did she get to sleep all right, Shizuka-chan?" cried Takashi, raising his voice a little to be heard at the distance.

"Yes!" cried Shizuka in return. "Fast asleep, with Zeke beside her!"

"That's good!" cried Takashi again. Then, in his normal volume, he turned to Kohta. "You mean wait here once we've got our families? For how long?"

"Until Summer," said Kohta. "Until "they" have really started to rot."

"It's already begun," said Saeko. "You saw them today when we went out scouting, Takashi. Already they weren't moving as fast as they'd been before. It's certainly not advanced yet, but I think the first hints of rot are setting in."

"Right," said Kohta. "So since this hotel is probably the only place for miles with working electricity, it's a good place to bunker down. Bring your parents here. Bring survivors here in general. If "they" really and truly start to recede in number, then armed groups will begin to move out into the country and create order."

"Armed groups?" said Rei. "W-What about the government?"

"I don't even know if the government still exists," said Kohta. "The SDF is still around, obviously, but the civilian government?"

"And even if it is, its ability to control things is going to be hugely weakened," said Saya. "The population's been severely reduced, and the EMP's knocked out almost all electronics. The SDF may essentially have to run the country themselves, and even then, local armed groups will wield significant control within their limited spheres of influence." Saya huffed, and sighed sadly. "If only my Papa's compound were still intact… _we_ could be one of those armed groups."

"Military rule with significant power for local warlords," said Takashi. He shook his head. "Sounds like the Tokugawa period."

"Not a bad analogy," said Saya. "And that's why we've all got to stick together, and we can't relax. We'll have to keep our guns, we'll have to stay in the group, and we'll have to be ready to fight and kill, even if "they" start to go away. Because things actually might get more difficult without "them," in some ways."

"N-No!" cried Rei, startling the other three. "You're wrong! The government will come back! I know it! The power _will_ go back on, they'll restore it, I… I know it!"

"Rei..." said Takashi sadly.

"Trust me, Takashi, I know it!" cried Rei. "It's all going to work out! Things are going to go..." her brown eyes bulged desperately. "Things are going to go back to normal!" She stared pleadingly at them all. Takashi, Kohta, and Saya just stared back sadly at her, not knowing what to say.

Shizuka wasn't quite so far away that she hadn't overheard them. Indeed, she'd heard their entire conversation. And now, as Rei cried desperately, Shizuka rolled their eyes. "Yeah, but _I'm_ the one who's crazy." Her eyes swept back over them, and suddenly they widened. She counted them: Komuro-kun, Hirano-san, Miyamoto-san, Tagaki-san… "Where'd Busujima-san go?"

"Here."

Shizuka jolted hard from fright at the voice over her shoulder. She twisted around to see Saeko standing just behind her, the shadows deep and thick about her body, her face, and her hair. But her eyes were bright, and gleamed an eerie blue as they looked down at Shizuka. Shizuka put a hand to her chest. "Y-You really are quiet, aren't you?"

"When I wish to be," said Saeko. She stared intently down at Shizuka.

Her temporary fear gone, Shizuka stared straight ahead. "Are you here to threaten me again, too? Miyamoto-san's already had her second turn."

"No."

Shizuka glanced up at her again, genuinely surprised.

"No, I'm not," said Saeko. "Instead, I am here to offer you… an arrangement."

"You? Offer something to _me_? What happened to wanting to cut my boobs off?"

"I have had a change of heart," said Saeko, walking up to her right side. "It occurs to me that I was too quick to judge you before… and perhaps too quick to be jealous, as well." Saeko stared into the firelight, some ways away. She spoke low, and Shizuka knew this conversation was for them alone. "You were right, Marikawa-sensei. The world has changed. The old world is dead, and this is the new world, now." She looked down at Shizuka, and to Shizuka's immense surprise, Saeko actually smiled. "You have adapted to the new world very well."

Shizuka glanced away, and fingered her neck. "I felt like I had no choice… it seemed like it was either adapt or die."

"Correct," said Saeko. "Many of us have fully adapted. But it has taken on different forms. In my case, I have adapted by becoming who I always was, deep down—who I always was, but was afraid to be. That is a thing I have come to terms with." She looked down at Shizuka again. "In your case, you've adapted by becoming someone new, someone different than your old self in important ways. But we have both… adapted." Saeko glanced back towards the others. "Hirano-san has adapted fairly well, also. As has Takagi-san. Takashi is… partway there. Miyamoto-san has not adapted at all."

"She still thinks things will go back to normal."

"Yes. But they won't. I know this. You know this. But after our encounter at the spa, I realized I had not quite grasped _all_ the implications of this." Saeko sat down next to Shizuka. "For one thing, it's good that those who have learned to live in the new world should stick together. New species should form symbiotic relationships in their new environment." Saeko glanced at Shizuka from the corner of her eye. "For another thing, the new world is going to have new rules, different rules, on all sorts of things. Like relationships, for example."

"You're talking about Komuro-kun."

"Perhaps monogamy is a relic of the old world as well." Shizuka's eyebrows rose and she turned to Saeko. "Perhaps, to preserve the cohesion of the new world, certain old rules no longer apply. Perhaps I was too slow to see this."

"So… that arrangement you mentioned..."

"Ah, perhaps you've already guessed," said Saeko with a mysterious smile. "But I'll be plain regardless. You have won my respect, Marikawa-sensei. And it is clear that Takashi has immense, deep affection for you. So, if it is acceptable to you… I am prepared to share."

Shizuka's eyes bulged. "Share? Komuro-kun?"

Saeko nodded. "Perhaps one man and one woman is simply no longer tenable. Especially if the human race is to be repopulated." Shizuka bit her lip at the thought of Takashi making her a mother. "And even if it may continue as a general rule, when it comes to our particular, present circumstances, I believe an exception is in the best interests of us both, and the best interests of our whole group. We are in danger of tearing each other apart over the issue of Takashi. Something must be done to bring peace."

Shizuka glanced off to the side. "You'd share him with a big, dumb cow?"

"As I said, you've won my respect. Your total lack of fear is impressive, as is your sheer aggression in pursuing Takashi. You've developed traits it would be good to preserve in the new world." Saeko stretched out her hand. "So… Shizuka… do we have a deal?"

Shizuka tapped her chin. She rolled Saeko's words around in her mind. And as much as she tried, she couldn't ignore their logic. She did love Takashi, that was true. The thought of sharing him would certainly take getting used to, and there was a part of her that resisted. The impulse to eliminate both her rivals and take Takashi for herself was powerful. Could she get used to sharing?

On the other hand, what if monogamy _was_ one more relic of the old world? And what if it was, indeed, very good for people who had learned to survive in the new world to stick together? Maybe that was enough to break her rules. Maybe she, too, had ideas from the old world that she still had to surrender. So she turned to Saeko, whose hand hung there, lingering, outstretched. She thought. She twisted her chin up, considering the hand lit by the distant fire.

And Saeko was about to withdraw her hand, until Shizuka's own hand stretched out and took it. They clasped. They shook. "Deal… Saeko."

A long and meaningful glance passed between the two women, and new appreciation blossomed between them. Shizuka smiled at Saeko, and was delighted when Saeko gave her a fierce, sharp smile of her own. Yes, she rather liked Saeko, she'd decided. Unlike Rei, she was absolutely certain Saeko would have had no qualms about killing her, if it had come to that. And that made Saeko admirable… at least, in the new world.

"Of course, just because we've struck a truce doesn't mean our troubles are at an end," said Saeko. She turned back towards the fire pit, some ways off. "We are allies now, but we still have a mutual enemy."

Shizuka of course knew what she meant. She turned as well, and both women watched as Rei nestled up against Takashi. She laughed, she smiled, she took his arm and snuggled against him, and he smiled at her touch. "Right," said Shizuka. "Miyamoto. _She_ won't share."

"No," said Saeko. "She is committed to sole possession of Takashi. She still thinks the old world will eventually return. She has not yet adapted." Saeko cocked her head to the side. "It's possible she never will."

"So what do we do?" asked Shizuka.

"If negotiation with the enemy is utterly impossible, the only option that remains is elimination."

"So we have to kill her, you're saying."

"That's my conclusion," said Saeko. She sighed sadly. "It's regrettable… I wish there were another way. I can't see it, though. She simply refuses to cooperate."

"What do you have in mind?"

Now it was Saeko's turn to be shocked. "I didn't expect you to agree with me so quickly."

"_What_ do you _have_ in _mind_?" said Shizuka, steel in her voice.

Saeko turned back towards the fire pit. "Nothing yet. Just hints and vague ideas. I am, of course, open to suggestions."

Shizuka drew her knees up to her chin, and stared back towards the rest of her companions. "Hmm..."

"Oh, hey, look who's getting along," said Kohta, glancing off into the darkness. The others turned, and all could see Saeko and Shizuka sitting next to each other, exchanging words.

"Ugh," growled Rei, grimacing. "They deserve each other."

"Huh," said Saya. Her fang flared as she smiled. "Well, maybe they all _will_ work it out amongst themselves."

"What?" asked Rei.

"Nothing," said Saya

"Oh, hey, they're looking at us, now," said Takashi. He waved at them. Both women waved back at him, both Shizuka and Saeko smiling daintily. Takashi blushed to see them both look at him in such a way.

Rei scowled. She saw them both look her way. "Oh, great, they're staring at me," she said, rolling her eyes and turning back towards the fire.

Saya glanced off towards Shizuka and Saeko. She saw them looking. They _were_ looking at Rei, staring very intently, and talking so low she couldn't hear them. Saya's hackles rose. She looked back towards the two of them. She looked to Rei. Back and forth her eyes went.

"Hmm?" said Rei. She turned, and scowled. "Takagi-san, now _you're_ staring at me. What is it?"

Saya blinked hard behind her glasses. She had a strange expression on her face, just for a moment. Then she put on a smile, and shrugged. "Nothing," she said. "It might be about time to go to bed."


	13. Chapter 13

On the morning of the fourth day they left the ryokan behind. However, they had all made sure it couldn't be accessed by "them." They had wheeled abandoned cars from the road in front of the gates; this had taken more than an hour, and it would take more than an hour to reverse if and when they returned. But Kohta had thought it prudent, and Saya had agreed. "This way," Kohta had said, "this way, "they" can't enter it. It will be safe, for when we come back."

They made their way closer and closer to the heart of Rei and Takashi's neighborhood. They stayed in abandoned houses the next two nights, sleeping on couches and beds and even tables and chairs. The third day since they left the ryokan, they passed a convenience store and gas station. "Look," said Rei, thrusting a thumb towards it. "Memories, eh, Takashi?"

"Too many memories," said Takashi, clearly not as amused as Rei.

"Actually," said Kohta, stopping, "that convenience store's windows and doors are all still intact."

They all stopped. "He's right," said Saeko. "It's possible that everyone inside left during the initial panic, and the owners locked up behind them."

"So it could still have a lot of supplies, right?" asked Rei.

"At the very least it's worth checking out," said Saya. "Come on, let's be careful, and not make too much noise. I think I hear a big group of "them" shuffling around not far from here."

In the end, getting into the convenience store had been quite simple. Really, really simple: all Rei had had to do was use the bayonet on her rifle to forcefully lift up the lock. Takashi had grunted as he'd slid the doors open, and sure enough, the store that the doors had revealed was completely intact, and silent as a tomb.

"Good!" said Saya, bursting inside. "I can get some new toothpaste!"

"A little lip balm would be nice," said Saeko, sliding into the shadowy depths.

They all spread out throughout the aisles and shelves. Takashi grabbed easy, long-lasting food: instant ramen, fast-cook rice, that sort of thing. Kohta, to their surprise, grabbed a package of condoms; when everyone had blanched at this, he'd turned beet red and stammered out an explanation that condoms could be used to protect their guns in the event of rain and mud. Saya had rolled her eyes at this, and muttered something about how _of course_ that was what he wanted to use them for.

"Hmm," hummed Shizuka, over in the tooth care section. She danced dainty fingers over items on the shelf, gazing, searching. She stopped at a bright green bottle. "Oh, mouth wash!" she said brightly. She picked the little bottle up and read the label. "Extra strength! Very nice." She stuffed the bottle in her satchel.

She heard a body next to her, and heard rummaging on the shelves. She turned to see Rei browsing through the electric toothbrushes, fingering one after the other. Rei glanced her way, and their eyes met. "Rgh," growled Rei, turning aside. "Takagi-san said that things with batteries in them might still work. I've always wanted an electric toothbrush..."

"So you're just going to steal?" said Shizuka.

Rei made a face at her. "You did! Everyone has."

Shizuka arched an eyebrow. "Of course. It's just that… you said you didn't like this new world. Yet here you are taking advantage of it."

"Don't say that," rumbled Rei, voice dropping an octave. "I don't… believe me, I would very much rather be paying money to a clerk for this." She sighed, and slumped, and seemed tired in a way no high school girl should ever have seemed. "I'm just sick of all this. Stealing, running, hiding, fighting… it was kind of fun at first… but it's exhausting now."

She had expected Shizuka, the new and nasty Shizuka, to make some awful comment. Instead, she heard Shizuka say, "Ah," and turned to see the older, bigger woman move towards her. "Miyamoto," said Shizuka. "I think I've been… too harsh on you."

"R-Really?" said Rei, totally surprised.

"Oh, yes," said Shizuka, voice dripping with sweetness. "We're… we're rivals. Rivals for Komuro-kun. Nothing can change that. But we don't need to kill each other over him, do we?" She smiled, and all of a sudden she looked like the old Shizuka: the ditzy Shizuka, the happy Shizuka, the _nice_ Shizuka. "We can just fight over him with pranks and hijinks and shenanigans, just like in a manga! Can't we?"

"I..." Rei felt a warm, genuine smile spread across her face. "You know, sensei, you're right. We can. I..." she sighed, and arched her back to crack it. "Maybe I don't have to kill you."

"Were you ever going to to begin with?"

"I-" Rei looked up suddenly, because that hint of nastiness had crept into Shizuka's voice. But the big-bodied nurse was once again beaming kindly at her, just like she'd always done. At least, just like she'd done before that asshole had tried to rape her. It put Rei at ease. It made her relax. Shizuka had always _used_ to make her relax. "You know, no, I never was. I just… can't kill living humans." Rei laughed gently. "It's not in me. I hope it never will be. Killing "them" is one thing, but… nothing else. I don't want anything else."

"Well, you have a good heart, Miyamoto-chan," said Shizuka, coming up to her and beaming at her with almost-closed eyes. Just like she always used to do. "You have a better heart than most people."

Rei smiled at her. "Sensei, are you feeling… better?"

"I am!" said Shizuka, and she giggled in a bubbly way. "I'm feeling better than I have in more than a month. I guess..." she glanced up to the ceiling, a perfect, ditzy glaze on her eyes. "I guess I just went a little crazy!"

"Shell shock, right?" said Rei with a grin. "Like what happened to Hirano."

"Yeah," said Shizuka, sheepishly rubbing her arm behind her head. "Yeah, I guess that was it."

"Well, I'm so glad you're back to normal!" cried Rei, delighted, rushing in for a hug. She wrapped her arms tenderly around Shizuka's torso, snuggling against her big, soft breasts.

"Hmm hmm," hummed Shizuka, making a contented expression. "Miyamoto-chan, you're too kind."

"It's just… so nice to have you back," said Rei, squeezing hard, burying her face in Shizuka's massive breasts. "I missed you so much."

"Well, I'm here!" said Shizuka brightly.

"All right, come on!" cried Takashi from the front of the convenience store. "Scouring time's over. It's time to head back out."

Rei pulled away from Shizuka, still beaming a smile at her. "Wanna take a bath some time again, sensei? If we find a good bath house again?"

Shizuka giggled. "You mean you want to grope me again, ha ha!"

"They _are_ nice to feel," said Rei. "But…" her smile was genuine and warm. "I'm just so happy you're back. So, so happy." She truly, hugely smiled, a grin that reached from ear to ear. "If _you_ can go back to normal… the world can, too!"

"Come on!"

"Coming, Takashi!" cried Rei. She turned to Shizuka, as giddy as a little schoolgirl. "Come on, let's go!" And then she turned back towards the entrance, and bounced away, her own considerable breasts and butt jiggling around her as she did.

Shizuka cooed as Rei vaulted out of sight and hearing. Then her entire body instantly changed. She leaned back, and squared her shoulders. Her fists clenched. And her face changed the most of all. Her goofy smile immediately turned to a scowl, and her eyes, once again, became cold and hard. And now she smiled again, but it was nothing like the gentle, ditzy smile Rei had seen. This smile was sharp, and harsh, and almost looked like a snarl. She turned back to the shelf and picked out another bottle of mouthwash. "Too easy," muttered Shizuka under her breath. She turned, then, and headed towards the entrance of the store.


	14. Chapter 14

On the way to the heart of their neighborhood—on the way deep towards Rei and Takashi's houses—they did indeed encounter a big group of "them."

It was only a few blocks from Rei's own house, really. And, in a pang of guilt, Takashi realized it might have been his own fault. They'd all grown used to mostly-empty streets and neighborhoods for the past two days. As a result, they'd all begun to raise their voices, and Takashi had been loudly arguing with Kohta about which idol group had the hotter girls between Dempagumi and Morning Musume. Takashi swore by Dempagumi, while Kohta gave no ground about Morning Musume. So they had bickered, volume increasing, as the four women had shaken their heads and marveled at the stupidity of boys.

Then all of a sudden, the shift and the groan of great masses of bodies had drawn their attention, and they'd looked up. And there "they" were: a great group of the dead, swarming everywhere, coming at them right in the middle of their path.

"All of them!" cried Rei. "All of those!"

"So sluggish, though..." said Saeko, drawing her katana. "Not like before."

"Should make our job easier," said Takashi. He raise his combat shotgun. "Okay, let's go! Fan out! Take 'em out! Watch your backs! Look after each other!" Saya, Rei, Kohta, and Saeko primed themselves, and with Takashi at the front, they surged forward and spread out. "Shizuka-chan, look after Alice and Zeke!"

"Okay, Komuro-kun!" cried Shizuka, pulling her revolver from her satchel. She drew Alice close. "Stay with me, Alice-chan!"

"Okay, Miss Shizuka!" said Alice. She looked up at Shizuka. She was much less nice than she used to be. She was much harder, and just being around her _felt_ more dangerous, to Alice. But as she saw her adopted family engage the hordes of the walking dead, Alice realized that maybe it was better to be dangerous… than to be fresh meat.

"Come on," said Takashi. He used the door-breacher on his Benelli M4 to smash one of the creatures' heads apart. "Come on," he said again, loading a shell, aiming and firing, blowing two of them apart with a single blast. "Come on!" he roared, smashing one of "their" heads apart with his shotgun's butt. His brown eyes blazed with hate, with fury, with determination, and blood flew around him, blood and bones and organs and muscles, as he blew them down in pairs and trios. "Come on, get out of my way! We've got places to be!"

"Okay," said Saya, raising her MP5. "Like this, right?" She put the sight on one of them. She drew in a breath. She pulled the trigger. The recoil jostled her breasts and sent her skidding back. But she looked, and smiled, fang flashing. "Got him!" she cried, seeing the one of "them" she had been aiming for splatter to the ground. "I _am_ a genius!" she exclaimed. "I knew I'd figure this out!" She raised the rifle again, and again she shot one of "them" dead where it stood. "I'm the smartest genius ever!"

"Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, _bam_," said Kohta under his breath. Every time he said "bam" he pulled the trigger on his AR-10, and with each shot, one of "them" dropped to the ground. He'd already wiped out a dozen of them just in the first few minutes. "You guys are a lot slower than you used to be," he said. Behind his glasses, his eyes twitched in savage delight. He grinned, baring his teeth. "What's wrong?" he asked, dropping yet another one with a single powerful shot. "Muscles starting to rot?"

Saeko danced and pirouetted, a swirling dervish of death. She swished her katana in arcs and swirls of putrid dark red blood, splashes and flecks of it spattering her black skirt, her kneepads, her schoolgirl's shirt. "Blech," said Saeko, pausing a moment, reflecting on how dirty she'd become. "This is less than elegant… I've made a mess, one I don't normally make." She flicked her sword and flecked blood and entrails off of it. "There _are_ quite a few of them, though… I guess it can't be helped." More of "them" surged upon her, so she smiled. She laughed! She barked her savage hyena laugh, and with wild blue eyes she charged. "In close-quarters combat, one's bound to get a little bloody!"

In a quiet bend, around a ruined wall, Shizuka and Alice and Zeke hunkered down. Shizuka tried to listen for herself how things were going. She heard the gunshots, heard the squirting and squelching of blood and bones and organs. She had not heard any screams of pain from anyone living. "Sounds like it's going well," she said.

"It does!" said Alice. "I think everyone's doing great!"

All of a sudden, Zeke bared his teeth and began to growl. Alice and Shizuka whirled around, Shizuka's big breasts jostling as she rapidly moved. There it was: one of "them." It had broken away from the bulk of the fighting, and it was shambling towards them. Its empty eyes were rolled back into its head. Its guts were oozing out of a massive hole in its front. It was missing a right hand, a sharp, bloody arm bone sticking out from its ruined shirt sleeve. But it advanced. Shizuka realized it must have heard them talking, since she knew "they" reacted to sound. "Ah!" she cried. This made it worse: the creature pointedly turned in their direction, and began to shamble towards them, jaw hanging open and showing its frightening white teeth.

"Miss Shizuka, Miss Shizuka!" cried Alice, tugging at her sleeve. "Your gun, Miss Shizuka! The one Mister Kohta gave you!"

"Oh, right!" said Shizuka, reaching into the pocket of her military shirt. She pulled out her Ruger revolver. The thing was coming towards her still; it was moving slowly, but it seemed unstoppable. "O-Okay..." she said, fingers trembling as she tried to remember all that Kohta had taught her. "Ch-Check if it's loaded..." she whipped the chamber out and saw it full of all five bullets. She clicked the chamber back into place. "I-It doesn't have a safety, so you don't need to worry about th-that..." She raised the gun straight at the creature. "A-Aim for the head..." she did, but then she twisted in fear. "No! Hirano-san said aim lower, because you have to account for the recoil!" So she aimed at the thing's chest. "P-Pull back the hammer..." with a surge of exertion she cocked the hammer of the revolver back.

The thing was ten feet from them. "Miss Shizuka!" cried Alice.

"A-And _fire_!" screamed Shizuka, and she did so.

**BLAM!**

The kick of the revolver knocked her back a little, jostling her breasts and making her bones rattle. But her aim had been true. She had accounted for the recoil, so as a result, the bullet had blasted forward and blown apart the creature's skull, splattering its brains all across the paved ground behind it. Its ruined head crumbled apart as it tottered backward, and with a sickening wet noise it toppled to the ground.

"I..."

"You did it!" cried Alice, hugging her tightly. "You really did it, Miss Shizuka!"

"I… I did do it..." said Shizuka. She smiled, proud and savage. "I guess I did! How about that?"

"Shizuka!"

She turned. Her expression grew happier still. "Hello there, Saeko-chan!"

Saeko came into their midst, covered in blood and guts with fluids of all sorts dripping from her sword. "Things might be getting a little more dangerous," she said. "We've taken most of them out, but a few more seem to be coming." She looked down at Alice. "It might be better if I watch after Alice-chan and Zeke."

"Aww, but I wanna stay with Miss Shizuka!" cried Alice.

"I know you do, Alice-chan," said Saeko, smiling tenderly down at her. Then she looked to Shizuka. "But things are still difficult. Me watching after you might leave Shizuka-sensei free… to accomplish things." And when she said this, Saeko arched her eyebrows pointedly.

Shizuka's own brows rose. "Right," she said, and nodded. "Alice-chan," she said sweetly, glancing down, "I think it might really be a good idea if Saeko looks after you. If things are getting more dangerous, I want you to be safe!"

"Aww, but what about you, Miss Shizuka?"

"Shizuka-san will be fine, Alice-chan," said Saeko. "She can take care of herself."

"Well, okay," said Alice, coming close and clinging to Saeko's bloody skirt. Zeke sniffed around Saeko's shiny black boots, smelling all the nasty blood and guts on them.

"Just a minute, honey, then you can go," said Shizuka. She leaned in close to Saeko. "What?" she whispered in Saeko's ear.

"I saw Miyamoto-san fighting off almost an army," Saeko whispered back.

"Is she-"

"No. She was acquitting herself quite well." Saeko chuckled darkly. "She always does." She leaned in close to Shizuka's ear and whispered fiercely. "But I could already see her getting tired." Right in Shizuka's ear, she hissed: "Now, Shizuka. Do it now."

"Okay," whispered Shizuka. Then she turned to Alice and smiled. "Alice-chan, I'm going to take my medical supplies and go make sure everyone's all right. Okay? Is that fine?"

"Okay!" said Alice happily.

"Great! See you soon!" cried Shizuka, and with her breasts and hips and bottom swinging about her, she gave a wave over her shoulder and headed off.


	15. Chapter 15

Rei twirled and spun and pirouetted in a dance of death.

She smashed the butt of her Springfield M1A1 into the head of one of "them." Then she turned and sliced one's head off at the neck with her bayonet, sending spigots of black, rotten blood up into the sky. She hefted the rifle up and fired, once, twice, three times, each time taking down a member of the walking dead. She felt one behind her, so she turned in a twirl and spun her leg out, knocking it off its feet so she could stab down and cave its face in with the bayonet.

She yanked the rifle up, sending a spigot of blood and brains and eyeballs soaring skyward. Blood arced and swirled around her in noxious, dark red arabesques, and she charged into a mass of them. She shot one. She shot another. She stabbed one through the head. She dragged one towards her in a surge of her hand, and flicked the rifle up so the bayonet pierced its skull; then she pulled the trigger and blasted its brains out. She felt, more than heard, one coming behind her, so she swung her rifle upwards and cut its skull open from chin to forehead. Then she whipped her rifle up to her shoulder, leveled the sight, and shot cleanly, blowing off the head of one about three meters away.

And just like that, a dozen were dead, and the area immediately around her was completely clear. She'd fought her way off to a distance from the others, and though she could faintly hear the blasts of Kohta's rifle and Takashi's shotgun, she knew she'd gone far off.

"Ugh," she groaned, sagging where she stood. "_Ungh_," she grunted, sagging, almost toppling over. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, and staining her school uniform, soaking her shirt and showing off her pretty lace bra. Blood and guts and brains oozed around her, flecking her body and even staining her pretty cheeks. She sagged, almost toppling to her knees. She'd been fighting for almost an hour now. It hadn't let up. She felt like she was going to die. In fact- "Ugh," her stomach churned, "_Ngh_," she grunted, and doubled over, and weak vomit spattered out of her mouth. She'd done so much fighting, all without the backup of the others. She felt totally beaten.

Tottering off to the corner of a house, she found a cracked and ruined wall. She slumped against it, sliding down until she was sitting in the dirty road. Surrounded by her kills, Rei fumbled for the straps that held her rifle to her torso. "Gotta get..." she mumbled, "gotta get… this _off_..." Finally she found the black buckles, and with a grunt of tired satisfaction she hoisted the heavy semi-automatic rifle off her body, sending it clattering to the ground next to her. She closed her eyes, listening to the breeze and feeling the warmth of the air in the growing softness of the coming Spring. Spring. "They" would really start to rot. "It's almost over..."

"Ah, Miyamoto-san."

She smiled, and opened her eyes. "Hey there, Shizuka-sensei." Shizuka walked towards her, high-heeled boots daintily stepping over the mess of corpses Rei had left in her wake. Rei was genuinely pleased to see her. She sighed tiredly. "Look at the mess I've made, sensei."

"Ah, it's no big deal," said Shizuka. She stopped at Rei and squatted down, looking over the younger woman. "Let me check you out. I've been looking over everyone." She reached over, and moved Rei's rifle out of her reach.

"Aww, sensei..." cooed Rei. She giggled as Shizuka's deft fingers played over her body. "Ahaha, sensei, that tickles!"

"Oh."

The note in her voice snapped Rei from her exhaustion. "What?" Her brown eyes bulged. "Sensei, what is it?"

"Oh, Miyamoto… Rei… I think you may have been bitten."

Fear spiked in her. Terror surged in her heart and up her spine. No. "No… no!" Rei squirmed at Shizuka's touch. "I… I didn't feel it! I didn't feel anything!"

"Well it does seem to be the case..."

"Where?" Rei was trembling. "Marikawa-sensei, where is it?"

"I think..." Shizuka pulled back the collar of Rei's school shirt, exposing her shoulder and neck.

"What? What? Where is it?"

"I think it may be… _here_!"

"Wha-AAAHHHH!" screamed Rei as Shizuka surged in close, mouth open wide, and Rei's entire world exploded in pain as Shizuka _bit_ her on the collar, right where her shoulders met her neck. "_Ahh! AAAHHHH!_" screamed Rei as Shizuka's teeth sank into her skin, as she bit, as she tugged, as she tore. The older woman loosened her bite after barely a second, but she _tugged_, and a chunk of bloody skin came out as she ripped her mouth away. Shizuka surged back to a standing position, spitting out the bite of Rei's shoulder as she did. "Ah! Ah! _AH!_" screamed Rei, hand coming around to clutch her bleeding collar. "Sensei, you… you bit me! You _bit_ me!"

Shizuka looked at her coldly. Blood oozed from her mouth, dripping down her lips and dribbling down her chin. When she opened her mouth to speak, Rei could see her bloodstained teeth. "Oh, Miyamoto-kun..." she cooed, voice dripping with too much sugar. "Oh, you _have_ been bitten."

"Because _you_ bit me, you crazy bitch! You cunt!" Exhaustion was banished as Rei screamed at Shizuka. But she still felt so weak. "What the fuck? What the _fuck?!_"

"Obviously we don't want you to turn into one of "them,"" said Shizuka. "Komuro-kun certainly wouldn't want that. So, in the interests of mercy… it's better to put you out of your misery, isn't it?" Rei's eyes widened, tears leaking from them, as Shizuka reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her revolver.

"M-Marikawa-sensei…."

"Don't worry, Miyamoto… Rei. I'll be sure to take good care of Komuro-kun."

"Komu-… Takashi… is _that_ what this is all about?!" Rei's face twisted in wrath as she surged forward, blood oozing into her shirt. "You bitch! You _whore_! You fucking _cunt!_"

Shizuka smacked her lips, sending flecks of blood out of them. "What did you think it was, little girl?"

"I… I told you! Takashi promised me! We're going to get married! He-"

"He promised, yes, you've told me over and over and over and _over_," said Shizuka, pretty hazel eyes narrow and hard. "But that's all it was, really, wasn't it? Just a promise. Just a vow. Just a relic from the old world. Just one more thing that doesn't matter any more."

"We-"

"Shut up!" shrieked Shizuka, brandishing her revolver. "You weren't willing to fight for him. You weren't willing to do what was necessary. All you did was cling to the past!" She smiled savagely with her bloody teeth. "Didn't you pay attention in science class, Miyamoto? Species that don't adapt to changes in their environment go extinct."

"It's..." the loss of blood was making Rei's head hurt. "You cunt! You whore! It's almost over! You said it yourself! They're rotting! It's almost over!"

"No, it's not _almost_ over. It _is_ over. That's what you never realized. The old world is over. The old world is _dead_. The world's changed and it's never changing back. Even if all of "them" go away. The old rules don't apply! All the old laws, all the old vows, all the old promises, they don't matter any more!" Shizuka snarled as she spoke. "We live in the new world now. And the new world has only one rule: if there's something you want, you take it, no matter what you have to do!" She cocked back the hammer on the revolver. "Or else _you_ become the _thing_ that gets _taken_ by someone else!"

And, at last, Rei truly understood. She shrieked, and instinctively flinched back against the wall. "M-Marikawa-sensei! Please! I-"

**BLAM!**

The noise of the gunshot echoed through the silent neighborhoods. And then, once again, all was still. Rei died instantly, blood and brains erupting out of the back of her head. Her corpse slumped backwards, blood oozing from its open mouth and from the gaping hole in its skull.

Shizuka breathed heavily in the silence. But only for a few moments. Then she huffed a breath, and stood up straight. "All right," she said to herself. She took her hand and wiped her mouth, swiping the blood off her lips and her chin. Next she reached into her satchel. She took out one of the little bottles of extra-strength mouthwash, and she opened it, and she dumped half the bottle in her mouth. She swished and swished, swished and swished, and gargled, and spat. For good measure, she used the entire rest of the bottle next, swishing and swishing and swishing and swishing and spitting, until the bottle was empty.

The coppery, metal taste in her mouth was practically gone. She pulled a makeup mirror from her satchel and bared her teeth. There wasn't any blood on them any more. They were clean and white… and perfect.

"But just to be sure..." she trailed off, and reached for the second bottle of mouthwash in her bag.

* * *

"The shot came from over this way, Takashi," said Saeko. She strode forward, sword drawn, followed by Takashi, Saya, Kohta, Alice, and Zeke. "Hello!" she called out. "Hello, we're coming! Miyamoto! Shizuka! We're coming!"

Sobs rose on the air as they approached. Takashi surged past Saeko, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He vaulted forward… and skidded to a halt. "No," he said. No. _No!_" There was Shizuka, head buried in her hands, tears streaming from her face. And there was… "_Rei!_"

Her corpse was slumped against the wall, blood still oozing from the bite mark on her shoulder. The bullet hole in her forehead also dripped blood, running in a long, dark line down onto her pretty upturned nose.

"_REI!_" screamed Takashi, screeching to a halt in front of her. "Rei..." he said softly, sinking to his knees. "You..." tears streamed quietly down his cheeks. "You didn't even get to see your parents..."

"I..." Shizuka sniffed, her own face contorted in sobs as her hazel eyes wept so many tears. "I… I _found_ her, I found her _bitten_, and she… _she asked me..._"

"Sh-Shizuka-chan…." said Takashi, glancing with teary, haunted eyes over his shoulder at her.

"Guess that Ruger did come in handy," said Kohta with an empty, hollow voice.

"Not _now_, Kohta," said Saya, tears leaking from her eyes.

"Rei! Rei! Miss Rei!" cried Alice. "Saya-sama, she's gone! She died! I thought none of you were going to _die_!" She screamed in agony and buried her face in Saya's breasts. Saya clutched Alice tightly to her, hugging her with all her might. Zeke whimpered pathetically at their feet, tail drooping.

Takashi cried silently as the growing warm breeze blew around them. Shizuka still sobbed, tears flying from her eyes. Saya sniffled, keeping herself from crying too harshly. Kohta did not cry. Neither did Saeko. But looks of absolute despair were on their faces. After all they'd been through… as close as it seemed they had been to the end… not all of them had survived.

"Shizuka-chan?"

"Y-Yes?" said Shizuka, sniffling and sobbing still.

"Did… did she say anything?" asked Takashi. "Before you did… that… did she have anything to say?"

Shizuka put a finger to her teary cheek. "She said..." she bowed her head. "She said she wanted you to be happy, no matter what."

"That… does sound like something she'd say," said Takashi, with an empty, hollow voice. His heart felt like a black hole. All of his limbs felt as heavy as lead. And now, _now_ he remembered that promise Rei had made, when she'd been so little, when they'd both been so little. He could see her, glancing over her shoulder at him.

_Takashi-chan, I'm going to be your wife._

_ Really? Really? Really?_

_ Uh-huh! It's a pinky promise!_

"Rei… _Rei!_" he snarled, and rocked backwards, rising back onto his feet. He drifted backwards, shaking his head over and over, tears streaming down his face.

"Mister Takashi… I'm so sad!" cried Alice, pulling away from Saya and wrapping herself around Takashi.

Takashi hugged her fiercely. "Me too, Alice-chan. Me too." She let go, and abruptly Takashi turned, and stormed out of the space, off around a bend in the street.

"Komuro!" cried Kohta.

Saya put a hand on his shoulder. "He won't go far. He knows better than that." She took off her glasses and squeezed at her eyes, forcing the tears to finally stop. When she put her glasses back on, she said, "But we should keep an eye on him. Make sure the big idiot doesn't do something stupid… in his grief. Like you almost did." She turned. A hand fell on her shoulder. "What?" asked Saya, turning around.

To her great shock, Kohta wrapped her in a hug. Her breath hitched, and Saya found it entirely natural to wrap her own arms around Kohta. "This sucks," Kohta whispered in her ear.

Saya rubbed her cheek against his shoulder. "Yeah," she said. "It does."

"But I guess..." Kohta pulled away from her. He glanced back at Saeko. "There's nothing to do but move forward, huh?"

Saeko nodded. "Indeed. The new world does not leave much time for mourning."

"We should burn her," said Kohta. "I don't want her body becoming food for "them," but there's no place around here that's good to bury her. So we should build a pyre."

"A fine idea," said Saeko. "She'll leave this world as befits a warrior queen."

"Come on," said Saya. "Let's go track down Takashi."

"Mister Takashi! Mister Takashi!" cried Alice, running off in the direction he'd gone, Zeke on her heels.

"Yeah, let's go find him," said Kohta, shouldering his rifle. It seemed so much heavier than normal. He trundled off after Alice.

Saya turned to follow him. But something made her pause, and stop. She spared one final look over her shoulder. There they were, the three women. Saeko glanced bitterly at the ground. Shizuka still cried, sobbing and dripping with tears. And Rei… well, Rei wasn't there any more, was she? That pretty corpse wasn't Rei. Rei was gone. And Saya, hating herself for it, breathed a sigh of relief. "It does solve a problem, doesn't it?" she muttered under her breath. Then she finally turned, and went off after Kohta and Alice.

When Saya at last was well out of earshot, Saeko turned to the sobbing Shizuka. "They're all gone. You can stop now."

There was a loud _sniff_, and Shizuka raised her head. There was no more sadness on her face. In fact, her expression was perfectly neutral, even a little serene. The peace on her face contrasted sharply with the tears staining her cheeks. She arched an eyebrow at Saeko.

Saeko drifted past her, towards Rei's body. "So… it's done." She glanced down at the corpse. "This is the end of it, isn't it?"

"You seem surprised," said Shizuka.

"I confess I am, a little," said Saeko. She turned back to Shizuka. "Up until I saw this… saw her… I didn't really believe you'd go through with it. I knew you'd changed, but I guess I didn't realize… you'd changed that much." Saeko chuckled mirthlessly. "And you really did bite her, didn't you? They were truly none the wiser." Saeko came close to Shizuka and tenderly touched her wet cheek. "And your fake sadness… such perfect crocodile tears. I've lied before, I've deceived before, but even I can't cry at will."

Shizuka wiped the tears from her cheeks. "You're flattering me."

"I certainly am," said Saeko. "Such perfect deception… such excellent betrayal. What a snake you've become." And then, to Shizuka's great surprise, Saeko bowed low in front of her. "It will be an honor to share Takashi with a viper such as you."

Shizuka put a hand on her big hip. "Just hold up your end of the bargain."

"I suppose I'd better, hadn't I?" said Saeko. She laughed a little, faint hints of that hyena cackle. She began to walk off, towards where the others had gone. "And I suppose I'd better keep on my toes around you, Shizuka. Or else, if I'm not careful, you'll dispatch me just as you did Miyamoto." She glanced over her shoulder. "Tell you what: as a token of appreciation, and a gesture of goodwill, you can have him first."

"That's kind of you," said Shizuka.

"Just let me know when your turn is done, so I'll know when to have mine. We'll alternate. Keep things fair." Saeko then went off towards the direction of the others, through the blood, through the entrails, through the festering corpses of the dead.

Shizuka turned back towards Rei's body. Those brown eyes were empty now, empty and lifeless. They stared straight ahead, straight at her, but they looked at nothing. Shizuka coolly looked at the corpse, and raised her eyebrows. "Whatever," she said.


	16. Chapter 16

"Hmm, hmm," hummed Shizuka, gazing into the lighted mirror. She squirted some moisturizer into her hand and began to rub it all over her face, all over her cheeks, all over her forehead, all over her nose. Proper hydration of the skin was essential. She smiled into the mirror. "He deserves only the best."

She was wearing a jet black teddy and nothing else, its dark color a striking contrast with her hazel eyes and blond hair. It swelled with silk and lace, and in the old world it had clearly been very expensive. She smirked with pleasure. She'd only had it about a week. She and Takashi were so close now that he'd felt comfortable asking about her clothing sizes, and one day, before he'd set out with a scouting party, he'd asked for her size in lingerie. Suspecting that he planned to bring her back something, Shizuka had deliberately told him one size smaller than what she normally wore.

The results spoke for themselves: she overflowed the teddy in all the best ways. Her big, plump bottom swelled far out of the lower skirt, which barely covered her crotch. Meanwhile, the top was far, far too small for her, and her breasts were ready to pop out at the slightest motion. Which was exactly what she wanted. "All for our fearless leader," she said.

It was now almost the end of Spring, and the days and nights were quite warm. They had made it, eventually, to Rei and Takashi's neighborhood. There they had met countless other survivors, including both of Rei and Taksahi's parents. Shizuka rarely felt remorse about anything these days, but she still felt a pang in her chest when she remembered Rei's mother and father getting the news of their daughter's death. Shizuka had comforted Rei's bawling mother personally. She had done the best she could.

Shizuka scowled. She saw, for a moment, the flicker of Rei's face in the mirror. "Fuck off," she snarled at the mirror. "It's over. I did what had to be done." She grabbed a brush and began to run it through her beautiful blond hair. "I did what I had to do to survive."

Having fulfilled their mission, they had returned to the ryokan, whose backup generator was still more than capable of powering the whole place, from the hotel itself to the various buildings on the grounds. They had returned with all the survivors who would come with them, and it had begun to be gradually known in the surrounding areas that the hotel was a safe space, a headquarters for those who had survived the end of the world. The party still led scouting missions out into the neighborhoods, towards the high rises, the shopping centers, the downtown areas. Where before it had only been the seven, and then the six of them, these days they went out with a veritable army.

"Rika's sure come in handy on that front," said Shizuka. Minami Rika, her old friend from the special assault police, had shown up on their doorstep about a month ago, bringing a few of her comrades with her. But as soon as Shizuka mentioned Rika's name, she frowned. She and Rika were much less… close… than they used to be. Indeed, it sometimes felt like Rika avoided her at times. Rika claimed that this was due to how much Shizuka had changed; she'd repeatedly told the big-bodied nurse that she barely recognized her these days. Shizuka scowled into the mirror again. "But at least she's useful against "them.""

Although there wasn't nearly as much fear of the dead as there used to be. "They" had truly begun to rot in huge numbers, just as Shizuka had suspected all those months ago. Just the other day, she'd sat on the roof of the ryokan with Kohta, and they'd looked through binoculars out into the neighborhood. She'd personally seen one of "them" shambling along, falling apart as it walked, muscles oozing off its limbs and rotten guts slopping from its front. She'd seen it fall apart with her own eyes, and collapse to the ground. It was much the same everywhere they went.

No, now they had new things to worry about. There were rumors of tanks on the major roads, and in the past month they'd more than once seen helicopters and aircraft in the sky. "Could it be the SDF?" pondered Shizuka to herself in the mirror, not for the first time. "Well, the others might be in trouble, then. Like Saya says, the military's going to want to reassert order, and they might not listen to a bunch of teenagers." Shizuka tilted her head and tapped a finger to her chin. "But I'm sure they'd be happy to have _me_. Trained medical personnel are always valuable."

But, in truth, that wasn't what she hoped—and, in fact, that wasn't what Kohta and Saya suspected. In fact, the real rumor was that at least some of those tanks and other military vehicles _didn't_ belong to the SDF—that they belonged, instead, to armed gangs, to right-wing paramilitary groups, and to bands of marauders that had "commandeered" them. Saya had been piecing together the reports from the survivors who arrived, and she had more and more concluded that, even with "them" rapidly going away, Japan was becoming a dangerous place.

Shizuka smirked then, and hummed as she brushed her hair. The ryokan had become a bit of a dangerous place itself. Many of the survivors who came to it brought guns and ammunition with them, including a few who'd arrived with heavy arms. At Shizuka's own suggestion, Kohta had taken the eager ones under his wing and begun to drill them in combat tactics and operations. There were numerous fit, young men who had arrived at their sanctuary, men in their late teens and early twenties. Absolutely none of them had any qualms about taking orders from Takashi. Indeed, many of them had come to greatly admire him, especially after listening to the stories of his exploits from Saeko, Kohta, Saya, Alice, and Shizuka. Many of them had begun to regard him as their leader, and they as his followers.

"I wonder if they'd be up for stealing tanks?" said Shizuka, tapping another finger to her chin. "After all… what did Saya and Kohta say? A Japan ruled by the military, with substantial power for local warlords? Like the Edo period." She smiled eagerly into the mirror as she brushed her hair some more. "And why can't Komuro-kun be one of those warlords? Why can't_ we_ have some of that power?" She had discussed this with Saya privately, and Saya had not dismissed the idea. She giggled. "Oh, that would make me like a duchess! Or, hold on, what's that word from the Edo period?" She cocked her head to the side as she tried to remember her schooling. She snapped her fingers. "Oh, that's right, a seishitsu!"

Setting the hairbrush down, Shizuka glanced into the mirror. Then she did what she always did these days when she was in front of a mirror: she craned back her neck and ran fingertips over her scar. It hadn't faded or receded in any way. It was still the same dull red that it had been the first night she'd noticed it, in the mall all those months ago. She supposed it truly would be with her forever, and she'd never be able to forget it was there.

And maybe… in the strangest of ways… that wasn't so bad. Maybe the scar, and what had caused it, had taught her a good lesson. A painful lesson—one that had been hard to learn—but one that it had been good to learn, regardless.

She smiled with immense satisfaction into the mirror. She was sitting in a bathroom of the ryokan's presidential suite. Takashi had been persuaded to take the suite for himself; he had taken the master bedroom, while Shizuka and Saeko each slept in one of the suite's other rooms. But she was in the main bathroom now. She hummed at the mirror. "You know, all this..." she put her chin in her hand. "You know, all of this is… better… than me finishing my clinical training and becoming some dirty, scrubby registered nurse at some overcrowded hospital in Tokyo." She had a sharp, ugly fantasy of herself wandering around a hospital, wearing ugly pink scrubs and being yelled at by doctors. It made her grimace. But she banished it at once. "This is so much better." She smiled again, and now it was fierce, and savage. "Kohta's right. This world's really quite nice… if you're strong enough to survive it."

Rei's face again flickered in the mirror.

Shizuka angrily thrust a finger at the glass. "Don't you look at me like that. _You_ weren't strong enough. _You_ didn't adapt. And that's why you had to die." She rubbed on some lip balm and puckered her lips. "That's why I won and you lost."

"Shizuka-chan, are you coming?" called the voice from the bedroom.

Love, warmth, joy swelled in her chest. "Cooominnng," she said, in a sing-song voice. She rose from her seat, careful to turn the lights off on the mirror. She readjusted the teddy, particularly in the chest area, and sauntered out into the master bedroom. "Komuuuro-kuuuunn…."

Takashi was lying on the bed. His upper body was bare, and Shizuka felt a swell of desire at his bare, muscled torso. But more than arousal… more than erotic delight… she felt… peace. Warmth. Completeness. Truth. Yes, it had all been worth it, what she'd had to do. _This_ made it all worth it. He smiled at her, and butterflies bubbled in her gut. "I wondered how long you'd be in there."

"Just wanted to freshen up, sweetie," said Shizuka, crawling onto the bed and coming towards him, big breasts swinging pendulously as she did. She saw the erection in Takashi's pants, and licked her lips. "Long day?" she asked.

"Very," said Takashi, sighing tiredly. "Orders to give, people to welcome, maps to look at… jeez." He laughed. "It was easier and simpler when it was just the seven of..." he sighed. "Poor Rei."

Shizuka scowled briefly, but she soon readjusted her face. "Easier… but I kind of like it better now."

"Oh, I'm definitely not complaining," said Takashi. "But it definitely is tiring. I'm so tired I actually forgot whether it was one of your nights or one of Saeko's."

"Well, that's one thing you never need to worry about," said Shizuka. "Saeko and I run a tight ship!" She said it cheerily, and giggled. "We're very sharp about whose turn it is. So just leave that to us."

"Saeko's convinced she'll be pregnant soon. She said she's feeling fertile these days."

Shizuka laughed huskily. "That sounds like her, all right."

"I guess you guys had to stop using birth control months ago, right?"

"Oh, yes, we all ran out. And in this new world it's relatively low on my list of priorities," said Shizuka. She loomed over him. Takashi smiled up at her. "So, Komuro-kun..."

"Takashi."

"Huh?" said Shizuka.

"Please… all those months ago… when I started to love you," her heart swelled, and her eyes grew watery, "I think it all really started… when you asked me to call you by your first name." He reached up and gently feathered her chin with his fingers. "So, now… do the same to me, okay?" He smiled warmly. "Komuro Takashi. That's my name… Shizuka."

Shizuka beamed with joy. "Okay… Takashi."

Takashi craned up and gave her a kiss.

"I love you," cooed Shizuka, gnawing on his lips. "I _love_ you."

"I love you, too," whispered Takashi, wrapping his arms around her.

She lowered herself down onto him. "So… Takashi… let's see if I can beat Saeko to the punch."

She stared at him with love, with joy, with warmth, with passion. And yet, Takashi noticed, that coldness and hardness never fully, completely left her eyes. There were days when he missed the old Shizuka, the ditzy Shizuka, the Shizuka who, even surrounded by "them," had always radiated pure, simple happiness and joy. She had changed. But then, he supposed, all of them had.

"Oh, I'd better get _these_ out," said Shizuka, pulling back the top of the black teddy. Her breasts, her warm, soft, enormous breasts, popped from the garment and oozed down onto him. They smothered his chest as she leaned in for another kiss, and in the haze of pleasure, Takashi knew no more.


	17. Epilogue

Suzuhara Kenji drove the coal black Humvee down the empty streets, its engine loud in the silence of the abandoned neighborhoods. He was a man in his mid-40s, beard trimmed neatly around his chin and hair just betraying the first hints of gray. He had a scar across his face, and more scars on his bare, visible arms. He looked every bit the leader of an armed gang of marauders, which, of course, is what he was.

Three of his warriors were sitting in the back seat, all of them armed to the teeth with pistols and machetes and semi-automatic rifles. Their faces were lean and lined and hard. Yet, as Kenji glanced in the rear-view mirror back at them, he saw that their faces were soft. They had unmistakable looks of delight, of excitement.

"Hey," said one of them, glancing out the window, "that streetlight's on."

Kenji turned. The streetlight they had just passed was, indeed, shining, such an unusual sight to see in this new world.

"There's lights on in some of the houses, too," said another of the warriors. "How's the power on here, but not where we are?"

"Considering who's in charge around here, it's not so surprising," said the third marauder. "I mean, I wouldn't put anything past Komuro."

Now the first of the marauders actually grinned, a smile splitting his face. "I can't believe we're actually gonna meet Komuro Takashi. I mean, the guy's a legend."

"I heard that during the Year of the Dead he took out an entire army of those monsters single-handed, with nothing but a shotgun and a flashlight," said the second marauder.

"I heard that he saved an entire shopping mall stuffed with women and children," said the third marauder. "Went in, killed all the walking dead, rescued 'em all. Didn't lose a one."

"I heard he's already dealt with Suzuki's gang," said the second maruader. "I heard he did it without firing a shot. Just went in, met Suzuki, and broke him with a glare. Now Suzuki does whatever he says."

The first marauder then grinned especially broad. "Well _I_ heard that his wife's the most beautiful woman left in Japan. I wouldn't mind a glimpse of her."

"Doesn't he have two wives?" asked the second marauder. "He's a proper daimyo."

"Yeah, I heard something similar," said the first marauder. "But there's one who's a real looker. They say she's..." he held out hands in front of his chest, "_big_." The marauders shared a chuckle.

"Pipe down back there, okay?" said Kenji. "Don't be writing love poems to the man before you've seen him in person."

This quieted Kenji's soldiers down. He himself looked out the window now. The power was, indeed, on in a number of houses, and some of the houses even seemed to be occupied. And there was plenty of activity outside the houses as well. People were on the sidewalks and on the roofs of the houses: young men, fit and lean, many of them wearing body armor and carrying weapons. He saw so many assault rifles and semi-automatic guns. He even thought he saw a machine gun, here and there.

They turned down another street, and at last they saw the ryokan, whose gates were open wide. Two tanks were parked in the street in front of it, their guns angled upwards. Kenji's eyebrows rose: they were M1A1 Abrams tanks, the main battle tank from the American Army. On top of that, out of the corner of his eye he saw helicopter blades in the distance. He turned to the right, and saw several of them parked quietly, further down the street.

His warriors noticed them as well. "Are those… Black Hawks?" asked the first marauder.

"Damn straight," said the second one. "I was in Okinawa plenty of times, I'd recognize them anywhere."

The third marauder whistled. "Abrams tanks? Black Hawks? What'd Komuro do, raid the base on Okinawa?"

"Come on, man," said the second marauder. "We all know he's impressive, but stealing from a U.S. military base? That'd be insane."

"Is the U.S. military as strong as it used to be?" asked the third marauder. "Is _any_ military as strong as it used to be? The SDF sure as fuck isn't."

"Maybe the SDF's where he got the stuff from," said the first marauder. "Maybe he's already made arrangements with them."

"I said pipe down!" barked Kenji, gripping the steering wheel tighter.

They drove up to the gates of the ryokan, only for a contingent of men in black body armor with black guns to block their path. Kenji rolled the windows down, and was approached by one of the men. "Are you Suzuhara?" the man asked.

"I am."

"All right, good. We'll escort you in. Your men can keep their guns, it's no big deal."

Kenji arched an eyebrow. "That's awfully permissive."

"Well, the way we figure, we've got you solidly outnumbered and you're in our territory. You know it's suicide to start anything. So if keeping hold of your guns makes you more comfortable, that's fine."

Kenji nodded. "All right. Do we park here?"

"Sure."

The engine cut out, and Kenji and his marauders exited the Humvee. They were immediately surrounded by the gunmen. Kenji noticed that all of them had white armbands with the red sun of Japan on them. Looking up, he saw the Japanese flag flying high over the ryokan's roof.

The four of them were escorted to the front entrance of the ryokan. There, they were met by a husky teenager in black body armor, his shoulder pads decorated with gold ornaments. "Suzuhara Kenji?" he asked, the evening light glinting on his glasses. Kenji nodded. The husky teenager nodded as well. "All right, very good. We're ready for you. If you'll follow me." He turned, and they followed him through the doors into the front lobby of the ryokan, its lights shining brightly.

"You..." said Kenji.

The teenager glanced over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"I know you. I've heard of you, too. Hirano Kohta, right?"

"Yep."

"Yes, I know you. Komuro's majordomo." He smiled fiercely. "Are you even eighteen yet?"

"Just had my birthday last week."

Kenji shook his head. "So it's all true… all the crazy rumors are true. You're all just teenagers."

"That going to be a problem?" asked Kohta, whose eyes flickered over the armed escorts. Kenji saw their hands tighten their grips on their rifles.

"No… no, not at all," said Kenji. "It's just… funny. That was one of the rumors I didn't expect to be true."

"Rumors are funny like that," said Kohta, turning and continuing to walk into the ryokan's depths.

"Dude, is it true you can kill a man from a kilometer away without a dot sight?" asked one of the marauders.

"Well," said Kohta, smirking, "I do wear glasses."

"Zip it," snarled Kenji over his shoulder.

Kohta led them down numerous twists and turns of the halls, all done up in the traditional Japanese style. Kenji thought about how appropriate it seemed to be, for a leader like Komuro to have a place like this as his base. It was both traditional and modern; it was a classic ryokan, but it had so many amenities. Komuro couldn't have picked a more fitting headquarters if he'd done it on purpose.

"Here's the tea room," said Kohta, pausing by a door as their escorts pried it open. The door revealed a proper Japanese sitting room, complete with cushions and a low table in the center. There was one cushion with its back to the door and two cushions with their backs to the wall.

Kenji turned and glared at Kohta. "I guess I sit where the single cushion is?"

"That's the idea," said Kohta.

"So I sit with my back to the door."

"Do you expect Komuro-san to turn his back to the door?"

"Just doesn't seem… very welcoming."

"We invited you here. You accepted our invitation. You'll meet on our terms," said Kohta, brown eyes flickering in the dim mood lighting of the ryokan's hall.

"Ha, I guess I did," said Kenji. "Maybe that was my first mistake."

"You can all pile in," said Kohta, sweeping his arm wide in an invitation. "And of course, keep your hands on your guns. We've let you keep them this far."

Kenji nodded. "Come on," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the three marauders. They began to move into the tea room.

Kohta tapped the third marauder on the arm. "Dude," said Kohta, "is that an M-16A4? A real one?"

"Hell yes," said the third marauder, grinning at him and hefting his rifle. "I pulled it off an American solider who turned into one of the monsters. Killed him when he was undead, and took his gun. I have to scrounge for ammo for it, but I'll never give it up."

"Badass," said Kohta, grinning right back.

"Get in here!" barked Kenji.

They entered the tea room. Kenji knelt and sat on the cushion that belonged to him. His three marauders splayed out around the room. There were no other chairs or cushions, so they just fidgeted around where they stood. The door closed behind them.

In not very much time, however, the door opened again. A young girl with red hair and brown eyes came in, bearing a traditional Japanese tea set on an elaborate wooden tray. She was wearing a kimono made for young people. "Hello!" she said brightly. "Here, compliments of Komuro-san. I believe there's four of you, yes?" There were six cups on the tray, surrounding the tea pot.

"Oh, yes," said Kenji. "My men don't need anything, though."

The young girl flickered her brown eyes at him. "Komuro-san wants them to know they're welcome here. Is that so bad?"

Kenji's eyes flashed over his men. They were all staring at him. He shrugged. "They can have some tea, I guess."

"Sweet," said one of the marauders.

The young red-haired girl set the tea tray down. She passed a cup to Kenji, and then went around and dutifully handed a cup to each of his marauders. "If you'll come close, the pot is heavy," she said. The three marauders all came around the table, and one by one, the young red-haired girl poured tea into the cups of the three of them, and then into Kenji's cup, and finally into the two remaining cups. Then she smiled, and bowed, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Good tea," said one of the marauders, sipping from his cup.

"Quiet," said Kenji.

Not too long after, the door opened, and their business was at hand. Four of the armed guards, all of them bearing semi-automatic rifles, filtered into the room. After them came a young woman wearing a green Western-style dress, one that was very elaborate with patterns and a lace trim. Her hair was pink, and it was done up into braids on her head. She wore glasses that glinted in the light.

And after that, there _he_ was. He wore simpler clothes than Kenji had expected, just pants and a long-sleeve shirt. However, on top of these he wore an elaborate robe, black silk with gold embroidery, in patterns of trees and birds and dragons. He knelt down on the cushion directly in front of Kenji; the pink-haired girl with the glasses knelt down right next to him. He nodded his head. "So, you're Suzuhara Kenji."

"I am," he said. "And, I suppose, you're Komuro Takashi."

"Well, that's the rumor," said Takashi, shoulders rocking with a loud chuckle. Kenji was immediately put on edge by how low-key Komuro was; for someone who wielded such power, he seemed extremely down to earth. It made Kenji reflect uncomfortably on how often he tried to act like he was above his own gang members.

"You're very young," said Kenji, trying to open the discussions on a stronger note.

"We all are, for the most part," said Takashi. "At least, those of us running things. The oldest one among us isn't even thirty yet, and even she's the only one of us older than twenty."

"Ah, that would be the legendary Marikawa-san," said Kenji. All three of the marauders perked up at this. "Will she be joining us?"

"She doesn't partake in business meetings," said Takashi. "My wives like to stay at a distance."

"Fine," said Kenji, though he felt the tension from his marauders behind him. He raised his tea cup. "So, to business! You've asked for a talk, even after you've killed a few of my raiders."

"I had them killed because they were disturbing some settlements that have been built up for months here in and around Tokonosu. They were going around to farmers planting crops, harassing them for food and supplies."

"My gang's hungry, Komuro. We need to eat to survive. We used to survive by foraging, but that's becoming less tenable."

"You don't take that as a sign?" asked Takashi. "That's why I called you in for a meeting, Suzuhara. The world changed once, and it's changing again." As Takashi said this, the pink-haired woman with the glasses leaned in close and whispered in his ear.

"The world belongs to those who are strong enough to take it," said Kenji. "Everything that was old has gone away. The old world was swept away in the biting jaws of the living dead."

"Yes, the old world's dead," said Takashi. "But the new world doesn't just have to be… chaos." He made a pensive face, brown eyes glinting dangerously. "Those were families, farmers, homesteads that your gang attacked. I know you've been doing this for more than a year now. But I'm trying to put a stop to such things, at least where I can."

"That sounds like something the SDF would like to hear," said Kenji. Takashi's eyes twitched at this, and the pink-haired girl next to him narrowed her own eyes. "They've met with me, you know. Their lieutenants have been around to my camp, and they've had a chat with me. Have they met with you?"

"What if they have?" asked Takashi. He sipped at his tea. "Why would that matter?"

"Don't play dumb, Komuro," said Kenji, leaning forward. "I know the SDF's looking to make deals. They've got hold of Japan, for the most part, but their grip is weak. They're so undermanned, they can't even field their full fighter jet compliment. And they don't have enough living soldiers to go into the islands, the towns, the neighborhoods, and ensure order. Too many of their grunts died in the Year of the Dead. So now they need help, and they're out to seek it." Kenji arched an eyebrow. "Will you do a deal with them, Komuro? Accept the authority they're ready to give you?"

Takashi glanced to the side. The pink-haired girl with the glasses again leaned over and whispered into his hear.

"That's a nice robe, by the way," said Kenji, trying to make things a little more lighthearted.

"Do you like it?" asked Takashi, smiling. "My wives said I should wear it. They don't always agree on everything, but they both agreed on this."

"It looks good on you," said Kenji.

"My wives both have a flair for the dramatic," he said, and grinned. "And they both believe in the power of intimidation and fear. I need to thank them; if it weren't for them, I'd just come into all of these meetings in my old school uniform."

"A highschooler," said Kenji. "It's impressive, all that you've done."

"Don't patronize me, Suzuhara," snarled Takashi, and the pink-haired girl smiled next to him, showing a fang. "I'm the one who has the advantage over you. I didn't agree to this meeting for us to part on equal terms. I agreed to it because I want to offer you a deal."

"Deal?" said Kenji. He bared his teeth. "_Deal_?"

"You marauder gangs keep getting squeezed out, by the ones with established power bases," said Takashi. "By people like me, or by people like Ayanami up north, closer to Sendai. You all thought you wouldn't need to settle down because there wouldn't be any more settlements." Takashi's brown eyes flickered. "Not a bad thing to think, if you survived the Year of the Dead. But the dead have receded, and there's signs that civilization is rising again. It's just not the _same_ civilization as before. The old world really is dead, but the new world doesn't have to be a wasteland."

"So this deal…" growled Kenji. "Is it like the one you offered Suzuki?"

"I want your strength," said Takashi. "You wield a lot of men, with a lot of weapons and a lot of armored stuff. You could do a lot of damage. I want to win you as a friend, instead."

"You mean a servant," said Kenji, scowling. "You want me to work for you."

"I want to offer you a place as a lieutenant," said Takashi. The pink-haired girl leaned over and whispered in his ear again, and he paused before continuing. "I want to offer you the chance to stop moving around and raiding and earning the hatred of all the people trying to make new lives." Takashi's eyes twitched, and Kenji knew he was looking over Kenji's shoulder at his men. All three of them were more than capable of hearing the conversation. "The world's new, and different. Things have changed and they're never changing back. But I think there can still be peace in the new world. Stability. We don't have to live like… what's that old movie? Mad… something?"

"Mad Max," said Kenji. "Before your time."

"I never set out to be a leader of anything," said Takashi. "I didn't even expect to lead the people who survived with me, in the end. They just followed me and I did my best to keep them alive. I didn't fully succeed," and Kenji saw pain flash across his face. "But… I did all right. And I guess I have a talent for leading. Maybe I'm grateful to the Year of the Dead, in some way, because without it I wouldn't have discovered that talent."

"And you wouldn't have a chunk of Japan under your control," said Kenji with a grin.

"Power has its perks, I'll admit that," said Takashi with a chuckle. "But the point of power is to use it well. And if I _do_ have a talent for leadership… and acquiring power… then I want to use it to make the lives of the people who've survived better. Letting people survive. Letting families survive. Letting a community grow again." Takashi smiled. "I could do that for you, couldn't I? You and your men. What if you all decided to settle down, a little? Do any of your men have families? It must be tough to keep a wife and children when you're in a mobile camp."

Now all of Kenji's men were staring intently at Takashi. And Kenji knew it. "Enough!" said Kenji, angrily rising to his feet. "I know you're trying to sweet talk me, Komuro. But I see through it. You do indeed have a talent for acquiring power, and you want more. You've learned the rule of the new world: if you want something, you do what you have to to _take_ it! You're no different from me, in that regard. So I'm going to turn you down! I'm not going to be one more piece of your puzzle."

Takashi sighed. "Sorry to hear that."

He was so damned calm and firm. Kenji hated it. "In fact," he growled, leaning forward, "I think I'm going to keep raiding the area around Tokonosu. I think I may start attacking _more_ of your forces as well!"

The armed guards under Takashi's control tightened the grips on their rifles. Kenji's own men were less quick to grow tense; instead, they glanced with worry at their leader. Takashi sighed again. "Look," he said, rising from his seat, "don't be too hasty. Tell you what: hang out here for a bit. An hour, maybe two. You can wander around the ryokan if you like. Mull my offer over. I don't blame you for not wanting to accept it instantly. But _think_ about it, at least, will you?"

Kenji curled his lip. "An hour. That's it. I have a watch, I'll keep track."

"Thanks," said Takashi with a smile. The pink-haired woman whispered in his ear again. Kenji scowled at her, and then she narrowed her eyes at him.

* * *

Kenji and his three marauders mulled around the ryokan, wandering its halls and areas. Kenji, if he were honest with himself, found Takashi's offer tempting. Takashi had spoken more truth than he knew: there were, indeed, men among the ranks of Kenji's gang who were getting tired of raiding and pillaging. There were indeed some who had started to talk about giving that life up and trying to settle down. He knew the three men he'd brought with him would bring everything Takashi had said back to his camp. He knew the rumors and the backtalk would start, no matter how much he tried to stop it.

"Which, of course, is probably why my men were allowed to come with me inside in the first place," growled Kenji. He was standing around one of the Western-style conference rooms of the ryokan, with a wood floor and a long table around which chairs were placed. Kenji scowled. "I should have come in alone. Not doing so was my first mistake."

A door opened to his right. He turned. Blue eyes glanced gently at him as they entered the room. "Ah, you must be Suzuhara Kenji, yes?"

"I suppose I am," said Kenji. He looked the woman over. She had black hair done up in an elaborate braid, and she wore a beautiful kimono in a soft yellow color. She carried a sword in her hand, a katana currently sitting in its beautiful scabbard. Those blue eyes gleamed coldly as they surveyed him. Kenji suddenly jolted backwards. "Wait, I know you! You're another one of them. You're Busujima Saeko, aren't you?"

Saeko smiled. "I am."

"Yes, I know about you. You're Komuro's other wife. His warrior wench." He chuckled. "They say you killed an army of the dead single-handed, too, with nothing but your sword."

"I hear you've been saying things like that this entire time," said Saeko. She smiled daintily. "Do we _all_ have rumors attached to our names? Are there legends about all of us now?"

"They've spread pretty far and pretty fast," said Kenji. "I bet they've reached from one end of Japan to the other by now. Everyone's heard the stories, the stories of the crazy highschoolers who survived the end of the world." Kenji arched an eyebrow. "Of course, Komuro emerging as a player in the new Japan has certainly _helped_ those stories spread."

"Not surprising, I suppose," said Saeko. She kept hold of the sword in one hand. The other hand gently rested on her massive stomach. Saeko was heavily pregnant; in fact, she was in her seventh month. She smiled. "Komuro-san wants to build something good. He's a fine leader."

"And he's certainly ambitious, isn't he?" snarled Kenji. "He wants all of it, doesn't he?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," said Saeko.

"Don't play dumb with me, woman," snarled Kenji. "Komuro tried it, too, but I see through you both. You're not the only ones with lots of sources and spies!" He crossed his arms over his chest. "You've been playing nice with the SDF. You've been taking their meetings and complying with their demands… in public. But in the background you're making moves. I've heard about you absorbing and winning the allegiance of other marauder gangs. I've heard about you working to destabilize some of the other warlords. And I've heard about you acquiring more arms and tech, either from theft or dealmaking." Kenji curled his lip. "Komuro's made the SDF think he'll be content to be a regional leader, a new daimyo in the new feudal Japan. But in private, you all are acting like you want to expand."

Saeko smiled. "You've certainly done your research. I'm impressed."

"Is it not enough for Komuro to be a daimyo? Does he want to be a shogun, instead?"

"Well, as my fellow wife likes to say, _someone_ has to be the leader of the new world. Why can't it be us?" As she said this, her eyes flickered briefly over Kenji's shoulder; but he didn't notice.

Instead, Kenji chuckled. "You're all awfully ambitious."

"We've had to be. You have to be ambitious in the new world if you want to survive."

"Heh, I've certainly learned that," said Kenji. His eyes narrowed. "But there's ambition and there's foolishness. You have to know that if you expand your authority too aggressively, the SDF will move to stop you. They're not as strong as they used to be, but they're strong enough to put down a local warlord, even one as popular as Komuro's become."

Saeko's brows rose. "That's very true. So, I suppose, the next step is for Komuro to become more than just a local warlord."

Kenji's eyes widened. "What, are you going to take on the SDF?"

Saeko tilted her head to the side.

"You crazy kids. This isn't me, my gang of marauders with our Humvees and assault rifles! The SDF's weakened but they're still an actual military! And they still have the backing of the Americans, or what's left of them." Saeko did not react to this, which sent a chill up Kenji's spine. "Seriously! Take some advice from an adult who's older and wiser. You can't go toe to toe with the SDF. You've been stealing tanks and helicopters, which is all well and good. But you want to fight the SDF? You'd need to start stealing..." he waved an arm around, "strategic bombers, aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines!"

Saeko smiled. "Well, I _do_ have it on good authority that the _USS Wyoming_ is currently sitting empty and rusting in the naval port at Sasebo, safe from the EMP, with its reactor and all of its ballistic missiles fully intact." Kenji's eyes grew huge. Saeko giggled. "Not even the SDF knows about _that_."

"Then… how..."

"My friend Takagi has many eyes and ears." Saeko shrugged. "All these governments and militaries from the old world… when they went away, they left their toys on the playground. Someone's got to pick them up."

"Takagi…" muttered Kenji. "Oh, the girl with the pink hair and the glasses! I saw her in the room with Komuro. Takagi Saya. She's Komuro's right hand. The daughter of that old right-wing gang leader."

"Correct. She's been analyzing your gang, too."

"I'm sure." He gritted his teeth. "So I've met all of you, by now, except for Marikawa Shizuka. Pity, I would have liked a glimpse of her and her beauty."

"Hmm," said Saeko. Then she abruptly drew her sword; the katana's bright steel flashed and gleamed in the light of the conference room. "This has been fun, but I think I've humored you enough."

Kenji abruptly drew his pistol and pointed it at Saeko. "What the hell is this?"

"As I mentioned, my friend Takagi has been analyzing your gang. You're very impressive, in a number of ways. But she believes you are weak in a number of ways, as well." Saeko twitched her sword a bit in the air. "In particular, she believes your gang's stability is overly reliant on your own personal charisma. She believes there's not a stable chain of command or system of authority among your marauders. As a result, she believes that if you were to die, your gang would break apart."

Kenji leveled his pistol at Saeko. "Is that so?"

"Yes. Saya believes that there are numerous other marauder gangs with similar weaknesses, and eliminating their leadership will disarm them as threats to Komuro." Saeko smiled. "She believes, even, that without this leadership, numerous members of these gangs will defect to us. So we'll grow stronger, and eliminate competition, all in one move."

"Clever," said Kenji. He barked a laugh. "But this is kind of pathetic, isn't it? I mean, look at you. You look like you could have that baby today. You're in no shape to actually kill me, not right now. I've got the advantage over you, and now I'm going to get my men and leave, and your plans will be ruined." He laughed again. "Thanks for the news about the sub, though, I'll put it to good use."

Saeko gave her katana a twirl.

"This is stupid, put that away, woman! Besides, even if you weren't pregnant, a sword versus a gun? It's no contest."

Saeko smiled gently at him. "If I were in my normal shape, I could easily cross the distance to you and cut your head off before you could pull that trigger." Then, to Kenji's surprise, she sheathed the katana. "But you're right about my being pregnant. I'm simply not in a condition to threaten you. So I'm not going to kill you."

Kenji relaxed a little, and lowered his gun. "Smart girl."

Saeko's eyes drifted past Kenji's face and looked over his shoulder. "_I'm_ not going to kill you," Saeko said. "She is."

"Wha-"

Kenji was sharply pulled backward into immense, warm softness. The biggest pair of breasts he'd ever seen surrounded and overflowed his shoulders. They were a sharp, immediate contrast with the cold, hard steel that was drawn in a flash across his neck.

"_Grk_," gurgled Kenji as his throat was slit. Blood erupted everywhere as he collapsed to the ground, writhing and clutching at his severed arteries. It was a clean, neat kill, all things considered; it was fast as well, and Kenji was dead within five minutes, the eyes of his corpse staring vacantly to the side.

Shizuka smiled down at the body. She was wearing a beautiful black cheongsam; it had a cleavage window, offering an inviting view of her breasts. She flicked her knife down at the corpse. "Well, that was simple."

"Nicely done," said Saeko, walking closer to her fellow wife, doing her best to avoid all the blood. "You really have gotten very good at being quiet."

"Well, I've had a good teacher," said Shizuka with a smile. "It's been handy to put your lessons to good use."

"Good teachers are nothing without good students," said Saeko. Her head tilted to the side. "How's your morning sickness been?"

"Ugh, awful," said Shizuka. Shizuka was pregnant as well; however, she was only in her first month, so she had not yet truly begun to show. "I've spent at least an hour in front of the toilet every day for the last week."

"Well, sorry to say it won't get better for at least another two months," Saeko said. "And then you'll have to deal with the swelling and the bloating. It's not been fun for me." She rubbed her belly again. "But it's all worth it, in the end."

"I was a nurse, remember? I know all about this stuff. I'll be able to help deliver the baby, when yours comes."

"I'll see if I can return the favor," said Saeko. "Of course, by the time _you're_ ready, I'll be nursing, so I'll still have things to do." Saeko chuckled, and playfully tapped Shizuka's big left breast. "And eventually _you'll_ be nursing, too. God, I can't even imagine how huge these things are going to get when they swell up with milk."

"Don't remind me," groaned Shizuka. "I'm already dreading it. Good grief, they're going to snap my back in two!"

"It's pretty impressive how you carry them around even now," said Saeko. "What's your secret? I've always been curious."

"Chest stretches," said Shizuka. "And high-quality bras."

"I'll have to keep that in mind. Mine are going to get bigger too, of course." Saeko smiled at Shizuka again. The two women had really become quite close. "Have you talked to Takashi yet about baby names?"

"Not yet. I want to have a few in mind myself before I ask him. The trouble, of course, is that we haven't gotten our hands on a good ultrasound machine, so I have no idea just what the baby's going to be. So I'll need both boy names and girl names."

"_This_ one is a boy," said Saeko, tenderly touching her belly. "I can tell by the way he kicks. He's ferocious and determined, like his father."

Shizuka smiled. She stepped a little to the side, and there was a splash of the blood on the floor. She looked down and grimaced. "I sure hope someone comes in here soon and cleans this up. It's a good thing this room doesn't have any carpeting."

"Well, that's why I wanted him to come in here," said Saeko. "It will make the cleanup easier."

"At least the job itself was easy," said Shizuka. "Better than that time you had to take out that Takahashi guy."

"Oh, don't remind me," groaned Saeko. She curled her lip in disgust. "I can't _believe_ what a mess I made of that one. I missed his throat, and, God, he _screamed_..." she shook her head. "Not one of my cleaner kills."

"Well, as you like to always remind me, Saeko-chan, there's always next time."

"True." Both women shared happy looks. Both of them giggled a little to each other, as the blood oozed and pooled around their feet.

(Thanks for reading!)


	18. Second Epilogue

(Author's note: I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has favorited, followed, and commented on this story. It was my ambition for the longest time to write a Highschool of the Dead fanfic, and I'm glad the one I finally turned out has been so well received. Thanks to everyone who's given me the time of day.

Many of the reviews have mentioned that the epilogue leaves room for a sequel, about the further adventures of Takashi and the group minus Rei. Sadly, I have lots of other writing projects I desperately need to work on, so I don't have time to commit to a full sequel story. However, since there's been so much interest in what eventually becomes of the group, I've written you all this: a second epilogue, one which peers a little deeper into the future. I hope you enjoy.)

* * *

Himeji Castle glimmered and shone. Even under the doubtful, cloudy gray sky, its walls of alabaster white were radiant, and its many silvery-blue roofs caught even the scant scraps of daylight that poked through the stormy skies above. Huge, opulent, beautiful, exquisite, the jewel of Japan's surviving castles owed its luster to a feat of modern effort, just before the world had ended. Mere months before the Year of the Dead had begun, the castle had reopened to the public after years of extensive restoration by the Japanese government. With painstaking love and care, the government had done repair work and restoration on the more than 400 year old castle, recovering its beauty and recreating the splendor it had possessed in the glory days of the Edo period.

Himeji Castle was no less loved today, in the cruel times of the new world. Indeed, it was more beloved than ever, especially by its present inhabitants, who had lived within its walls for the past five years. They had continued to maintain and keep up the huge complex, even as they made it their home. More than that, they had developed and renovated it in ways keeping with the standards of the new world, and it was both more advanced and more luxurious than ever. This was well. For the first time in centuries, Himeji Castle had reverted to its original purpose. It once again fulfilled the dual roles of a Japanese castle: it was both estate and fortress.

Deep within one of the castle's huge wings, gray light filtered through the windows. It was early March, and a storm had swept through Hyogo Prefecture, bathing the castle in rain. The rain had stopped a few hours ago, but milky, stormy gray light still dappled through the windows, its brightness weak and its shadows heavy. Deep, heavy silence hung over the castle in the aftermath of the rainstorm—but here and there, it was broken.

"Drr, rrr, grr," mumbled a high-pitched voice. Soft, small feet staggered forward haltingly, careful not to walk in a regular way.

"Blam! Blam! Bang!" cried another high-pitched voice. Small hands gripped a carved, curved wooden popgun, rocking it back in mimicry of a recoil. "Bang! Die, zombie! You're dead!"

"Ha! Ha, hai!" Yet more small hands and feet darted forward, and this pair of small hands held a small, slender wooden katana, a bokken meant for the youngest of trainees.

"Rrgh, urgh," mumbled the smallest and most high-pitched of all the voices.

"Slash! Swish! Zoom!" cried another voice, and the bokken tapped swiftly but lightly on a small, thin body. "You're dead! Die, zombie!"

"Okay, that's enough!" said another voice. All four children straightened, and silence briefly returned to the white halls trimmed with warm dark wood.

"What is it?" asked Musashi, holding the bokken at an angle.

"We need to switch sides!" said Miyuki, putting her hands on her hips. "Itsuki and I have been the zombies way too long. We have to be fair when we play Zombies And Heroes! You and Shingen have been heroes way too much, it's your turn to be the zombies!"

"Yeah!" said Itsuki, coming up alongside his sister. "I wanna be a hero now!"

"No way!" said Shingen. "You haven't spent enough time being zombies!"

Miyuki and Itsuki stared hard at Musashi and Shingen. Musashi was the oldest of them, at seven years old; his brother, Shingen, was five. They both had black hair; this was no surprise, as both of their parents were black-haired. Musashi had brown eyes, like his father, while Shingen had his mother's vibrant blue eyes. On the other hand, Miyuki was seven years old as well, but a few months younger than Musashi; her brother, Itsuki, was four. Both Miyuki and Itsuki had blond hair like their mother. Miyuki had her mother's hazel eyes, while Itsuki's eyes were brown like his father's.

The two pairs of siblings glared at each other for a few moments longer. Finally, Miyuki surged towards Musashi, reaching for the bokken in his hand. "I want the bokken now!"

"No way!" said Musashi, jerking away from her. "This bokken belongs to _my_ mother, and _she_ gave it to me."

"Yeah, well, during the Year of the Dead, _your_ mom was the only one of our family to _have_ a sword," said Miyuki. "Girls get swords too!"

"_Your_ mother didn't even have a weapon at all," said Shingen.

"Yes she did!" said Itsuki. "Mom _did_ have a gun! Uncle Kohta said so! She just got it later than the rest of the family!" Itsuki lunged for Shingen's wooden rifle. "So gimme yours!"

"No!" cried Shingen, lurching back. "You guys aren't done being zombies yet!"

"I wanna switch!" said Miyuki, lunging for Musashi's bokken.

"No!" cried Musashi, who turned and ran, his brother Shingen hot on his heels.

"Let's go!" cried Miyuki, chasing after them, her own younger brother Itsuki following in her wake.

The four of them scampered down the halls, rounding bends and barreling down corridors with the speed and swiftness of which only children are capable. They passed two servants, here and there, who had learned to pay the young masters and mistress no mind. Their parents were lax with them, more lax than some of the servants would have preferred.

But now they were in halls and corridors that had no inhabitants. They were in halls and corridors that were silent, that had glimmering monitors and screens lining the walls, that had open doors leading to rooms filled with flickers of computers and graphs and charts. Miyuki was the first to notice where they had gone, and she yelled out, "Hey!"

They all tumbled to a stop, Itsuki and Shingen toppling to their knees due to their lower centers of gravity. Musashi swung around, bokken still clenched in his right hand. "What?" he asked his half-sister.

"Where are we?" asked Miyuki. "I've never been to this part of the castle before."

"It is… weird," said Musashi, glancing around. Many of the monitors had details about ships, planes, submarines, and more flickering across their screens. His eyebrows rose as realization hit him. "Oh. Oh, no, this is the adult part of the castle, the part we're not supposed to be in." His eyes bulged huge. "We've gotta get out of here! Alice-senpai's going to kill us if she finds us here!"

"Ooh, what's in here?" asked Itsuki, wandering off to a half-open door that was larger than the rest.

"What did I _just_ say?" asked Musashi, hurrying after him. Shingen and Miyuki followed, and the four of them all surged through the door into the dim, gray room.

There were electric lights lining the walls, but these were turned off at the moment. It was a rather large room. It had desks lining its walls, and on those desks were some computers, both laptops and desktops, all of their monitors glimmering with numbers and data. On other desks, and plastered on the walls, were charts, drawn here and there with coordinates, ordinance reports, troop numbers, and more. In the middle of the room was a huge table, on which was splayed out a vast map of the world. Another map, this one framed in wood, was plastered to the large far wall on the other side of the room from the door.

Miyuki paid a glance to this map on the wall. It was a map of the world with Asia in the middle. Japan, all of Japan, was colored red. The Korean Peninsula was also colored red, and so was all of China, all of Mongolia, and a huge swath of Russia. Taiwan was colored red as well, as were the Philippines, as were Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand, and even a chunk of eastern India. Meanwhile, there was a red arrow pointing downward towards Indonesia, and another one pointing further downward towards Australia. There was also an arrow pointing north and east towards Alaska and the western coast of Canada. The red coloring seemed to be crayon, or marker, and it seemed to have started in Japan and gradually been expanded over time.

Miyuki's eyes bulged. "Oh, this is the war room," she said. "This is where our moms and dad go when they do grown-up stuff."

"So we _definitely_ need to get out of here," said Musashi. "We are going to be so dead if Alice-senpai catches us here. Mother will spank us for sure."

"I don't-" Shingen started, but Musashi immediately clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Shh!" hissed Musashi. "Listen!"

The four children were silent. They trained their ears. And, sure enough, they heard the sound of footsteps coming closer, and the tremor of voices in the dead, stormy air.

"… threatened, for a bit, but we're in good luck: it's moving. The storm's drifted off to the east, and out of their path."

Miyuki gasped. She would know that voice anywhere: "Mom!"

Another voice rose: "Very good. Though apparently there hasn't been much in the way of fighting so far?"

"Mother," whispered Shingen.

"They're coming this way," said Itsuki.

"We are _so_ dead," whispered Musashi.

"Here, come on!" said Miyuki, gesturing to a side room whose door was slightly ajar. She pushed at the other three children, and together the four of them barreled for the door. They were small enough that they could fit through the gap in the door without pushing it open any more. "Get back around here," hissed Miyuki, pushing them to either side of the door. "And I will _tell_ on all of you if you make any noise. Be quiet!"

"No," said the first voice. "No, there hasn't even been any shooting so far. Apparently the fleet's received a very warm welcome."

"That's quite nice," said the second voice, which now swelled to full volume as the door of the room was opened wider.

The owner of the second voice entered the room first: it was Saeko. At 26 years of age, Busujima Saeko was a spectacle of adult loveliness. Unusually for an older girl, she'd had a small growth spurt at the end of her teens, and now she was the same height as her fellow wife. She was immaculate, a picture of classic Japanese beauty. She was also tight and lean. With great effort and hard work she had kept her body in excellent shape following the births of her sons, and her shapely form was clean and lithe, packed with lean muscle. The only real clues that she was a mother were her breasts, which had gotten considerably larger after her two pregnancies. Her long black hair was done up beautifully in a high ponytail style, and she wore a luxurious black kimono, wrapped around her with intricate care.

"Yes," said the first voice, entering the room behind her. "As I understand it, the northern half of Indonesia is basically ours already. They've put up no resistance, and have actually invited us to take control."

The first voice, with its warmth and air of command, belonged to Shizuka. Now 35 years old, Marikawa Shizuka was still an incredible beauty. Her skin was still in pristine condition, and she had no wrinkles at all on her face. Of the two mothers, she bore more signs of her multiple pregnancies: her hips had widened, and her waist was just a little bit thicker. Additionally, her enormous breasts had gotten _even_ bigger, swelling from their old J Cups all the way to a colossal M Cup. They were massive, titanic, prominently visible even from behind. She still wore her blond hair very long, and these days tended to keep it in a large, loose braid that hung down her back to the base of her spine. She currently wore a voluminous black skirt and a dark gray top that was very loose and open. At present, the left half of her top was pulled back, and her gigantic left breast was bulging out, huge and torpedo-shaped, naked in the open air. The reason for this was immediately obvious: a tiny blond baby was currently suckling on her big left nipple. This was Asami, Shizuka and Takashi's new daughter, born barely a month ago. Shizuka nursed her with practiced ease, holding the infant up against her breast with a single arm, leaving the other arm mostly free.

"Well, that's good," said Saeko. "It reminds me of when we took Taiwan. They were happy to see us then, too."

"Yes, it's been easy so far," said Shizuka. "Though I've heard rumors that it won't be like this for long. Apparently the remnants of the Australian Navy are prowling around the Arafura Sea. So we may get some fireworks before the job is done."

"Admiral Tanaka doesn't think they have anything like our current strength," said Saeko.

"No, they don't," said Shizuka. "But they've got enough ships to cause us some trouble. Still, all signs point to victory, probably within the month." Shizuka smiled at her fellow wife. "That's my new news. Now, tell me what _you've_ got to say, Saeko-chan."

Saeko's blue eyes twitched a bit in the gray, dim-lit room. "His Majesty the Emperor is going to be paying us a visit in two weeks."

"Oh!" said Shizuka, taking a moment to readjust Asami as she continued to nurse. "Oh, well, His Imperial Majesty is always welcome in our home. Him above anyone else, of course."

"We got a letter from His Majesty today. He formally congratulates you on the birth of your daughter, and wishes to come and bestow his blessings on her. What's more, he has not yet paid us a visit in the new year, and so he wishes to do us the courtesy of a personal address."

"Fantastic," said Shizuka. "It's so good that he thinks of us so highly."

"I mean can you blame him, given what happened?"

"Guess not," said Shizuka. She chuckled deeply under her breath. "All these years later, I still cannot believe that the _entire_ imperial family survived the Year of the Dead. Even the grandchildren! I mean, what are the odds?"

"It is pretty extraordinary," said Saeko. "I can't describe what it felt like when Takashi, Kohta, and I all stumbled on them, that day in Kyoto. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life." Saeko smiled wistfully. "Thank goodness for my father and all the etiquette he instills in me. I knew exactly how to behave. It left an impression, too. You know His Majesty still calls me 'granddaughter' sometimes."

"It was such good luck to find them the way we did," said Shizuka.

"Of all the good luck we've had, that was some of the _best_ luck," said Saeko. "His Majesty was so grateful to us that he threw his full support behind us. That was ultimately one of the biggest reasons we were able to bring the SDF to heel."

"And of course we owe His Imperial Majesty infinite gratitude, for that reason," said Shizuka. "And we need to treat him with the utmost courtesy. Two weeks is more than enough time to prepare. I'll start letting the staff know this evening." Shizuka readjusted Asami at her breast, and then her hazel eyes twitched at Saeko. "Now, Saeko-chan, tell me why we're really here."

Saeko flinched backwards. "I… what?"

"Come on, Saeko," said Shizuka. "The news about the Emperor is very important, that's true. But it's news you could have shared with me at dinner tonight. Or it's news you could have told me earlier, when we were in the bathhouses getting our hair done. It's not news you needed to bring me here for. This is currently the emptiest and most abandoned part of the castle. You wouldn't just bring me here to tell me _that_." Shizuka stepped forward three paces, until she was very close to Saeko. "So, Saeko, what do you want to tell me that you don't want anyone else to overhear?"

Saeko sharply drew in a breath. Her blue eyes drifted downwards, looking at the floor. Shizuka stood there, patient but expectant, gentle yet firm. Finally, Saeko summoned her courage. "You know what day it is, right?"

"Tuesday?" said Shizuka.

"It's… eight years," said Saeko. She knotted her fingers together. "It's been eight years. Eight years to the day… since we killed her."

"Hm? Oh, _her_," said Shizuka, eyebrows rising in recognition. "Oh, right, I guess it has been." And one blond eyebrow rose higher. "What do you mean 'we'? You didn't kill her. I did. I'm the one who put a bullet in her head."

"Yes, but it was my idea," said Saeko. Her blue eyes shimmered at Shizuka. "Do you ever think about her?"

"No. This is the first time I've thought about her in years."

"These last few nights, I've had nightmares about her. I keep seeing her face in my sleep."

"Take five milligrams of Melatonin an hour before bedtime and that will clear right up," said Shizuka. "It's just temporary. It will pass."

"Maybe. But I can't…" Saeko wrapped her arms around herself. "I can't help but wonder. Was there some other way? Did we have to do… what we did?"

Shizuka huffed a breath. "She's eight years dead and burnt, Saeko-chan. It's a little late to be feeling regrets."

"I know, but… what if?" Saeko glanced around the war room, taking in the maps and the charts and the computers. "What if the three of us had been able to work something out, the way the two of us did? We didn't even try with her. I just immediately decided she had to die."

"And it was a good decision," said Shizuka. "Saeko, you remember how it was. If you hadn't made the decisions you did, all three of us would have killed _each other_, and our entire group would probably have been dead within a week. You ensured our survival."

"But what if we'd tried?" said Saeko. "I mean, I _do_ remember how it was. I remember how much I hated both of you. I didn't hate you any less than I hated her. But now, I love you like a sister. Could it have been the same with her?"

"No," said Shizuka sharply. "You know it couldn't have. You know the two of us were different. You knew it back then, too. That's why you made a deal with me, and not with her. You knew I could accommodate in a way she never could. You know she wanted Takashi all to herself, and _only_ to herself. She was going to get us all killed even more than I was."

"But… maybe..."

"You _saved_ us, Saeko," said Shizuka, gently but firmly, her hazel eyes imperious, her posture and bearing queenly. "You ensured our survival and our success. And not just in the short-term, either!" Shizuka readjusted Asami at her breast, and then her free hand motioned out across the war room. "Do you think we would have achieved what we've achieved if we'd had _her_ to deal with? If she'd been around, mewling and whining about _going to college_ and _owning a house_?" Shizuka's voice took on a mocking tone when she said these last few lines. She pointed at the map on the wall, with all its red coloring. "Do you think she would ever have gone along with any of this? Do you think she'd ever have been willing to do all that we've done?"

"I could have said the same thing about you, before you changed," said Saeko. "I could have said the same thing about you before what happened to you in that old shopping mall." As Saeko said this, Shizuka subconsciously reached her free hand up and fingered her throat. "Before that happened… before you changed… you would have resisted everything we've done just as much as she would have. The old you would _never_ have been a supporter of all of this. But these days you're more enthusiastic about all this than any of us, even more than Saya. And if you changed, why couldn't she have changed, too?"

"Because she _didn't_," said Shizuka, glimmering sharp steel in her voice, and suddenly all her matronly warmth was gone. "She had her chances to change. I know. Takashi tells me about the things the two of them did together, the troubles they got into alone. She had so many terrible moments, so many points of trauma. And I did see some of them! Like when she had her bayonet at Shidou's throat. All those times she could have changed, times she _should_ have changed, times she should have realized that the old world was dead and the new world had begun. All those chances she had to change. But she didn't." Shizuka snarled, and Saeko, not for the first time, felt frightened of her, even though with her voluptuous body she should not have been intimidating. "She had so many more chances than I did to change. The difference between us is that she didn't take her chances and I _took_ mine."

"I..." Saeko's eyes twitched to the side, unable to meet the older woman's gaze. "Maybe you're right."

"I am right," said Shizuka. "She was a burden. We wouldn't have achieved so much, had so much success, if we'd had her to deal with. She'd have whined and complained and second-guessed us every step of the way, and Takashi would have listened to her because he _always_ listened to her," and Shizuka rolled her eyes as she said this.

"That was… always what she did," said Saeko, her voice sounding like she was working to convince herself.

"You didn't hear her as much as I did. She confronted me so many times, towards the end. I saw into her eyes more than you did. I heard her voice more than you did. So trust me when I say: she would _never_ have changed. She never understood. Even at the end, I don't think she ever understood." She adjusted Asami at her breast yet again. A thin dribble of milk escaped the infant's mouth and trickled down her skirt. "For all our sakes, we're better off that she's gone."

"I..."

"Hey," said Shizuka, and once again she seemed to radiate motherly love. Saeko looked intently at her, and Shizuka smiled gently. "What do I always say, Saeko-chan? 'Nostalgia...'"

"'… is for the weak,'" finished Saeko. "Yes, you do always say that. And I suppose you're right."

"I am right," said Shizuka. "Look at where we are. Look at where we were the day the Year of the Dead started, and look at where we are now. Look at how far we've come. We've done what we had to do to survive. And it's all been worth it." Saeko smiled tentatively at her. Shizuka beamed at her, in turn. "Don't look back. What's past is past. I don't look back. Just look around you, and look forward."

Saeko nodded. "Right."

"All of us have done things we aren't proud of. But it yielded good, in the end. Think on that." Shizuka poked Saeko firmly on her shoulder. "And… no more regrets, okay?"

Saeko, just for a moment, glanced painfully towards the ground. Then her eyes met Shizuka's. And Saeko smiled. "No more regrets."

"That's my girl." Shizuka leaned in and tenderly kissed Saeko on the forehead. "I always know I can count on you, Saeko-chan."

"Mrnm..."

The two women glanced downwards. Asami had pulled her mouth away from Shizuka's big nipple. The baby girl was fidgeting and squirming in Shizuka's arm, cooing and whimpering gently.

Shizuka smiled lovingly down at her daughter. She tucked her mammoth left breast back inside her loose top, and then she took up Asami in both arms, rocking her gently. "I think it's time to put this one down for a nap. Come on, we're done in here."

"Yes," said Saeko, obediently following Shizuka as she moved for the door. "Is it true that Kohta and Saya are back from China?"

"Yes," said Shizuka. "They landed this morning. They should be home before sunset." Shizuka shut the sliding door behind her as the two women exited the room. "I think Takashi wants us all to have dinner tonight. It _is_ the first time in more than a month that all six of us will be together."

"That sounds wonderful," said Saeko. "I'll let Alice-chan know."

"I'll be interested to hear what they have to say," said Shizuka, voice growing fainter. "It seems like they had huge success."

"That's what I understand as well," said Saeko. "And what's more..."

At last, the two women's voices faded to murmurs, and then to silence. For a heartbeat, the war room was quiet once more. And then the sliding door on the far wall banged open, and the four children piled out of it. Itsuki, Miyuki, Shingen, and Musashi tumbled forward, landing in a heap on the antique flooring. Standing up, all four children exchanged huge-eyed glances.

"Whoa," said Ituski.

"That was _definitely_ a grown-up conversation," said Musashi. "I've never heard them talk like _that_ before."

"Eeeeee," squealed Miyuki, tugging at her blond pigtails. "My mom is _so_ cool!"

"I wonder who they were talking about?" asked Shingen. "I wonder who 'she' is?"

"Eh, she's probably not important," said Musashi. "I mean, they didn't even say her name. How big a deal can she be?"

"Yeah," said Miyuki. "I mean both our moms have killed loads of people. Why would any one of them be important?"

"Now we really, really should go," said Musashi, heading towards the same door that their mothers had shut. "The last thing I want is for someone to find us here."

"I hope Aunt Saya brought me back something cool from China!" said Itsuki.

"You know she did," said Shingen. "Aunt Saya gives the _best_ presents."

"Mom and Saeko-san and dad are probably gonna want us to be there for when she and Uncle Kohta get here, so we should definitely get going," said Miyuki.

"Yeah," said Musashi. "Let's go!"

The four children ran off, back down the hallways from whence they'd come. They left the war room behind, with all its maps and charts and screens standing silent, still, waiting for the next, inevitable campaign.

THE END


End file.
